Zoomorphism

Definition of Zoomorphism
Zoomorphism is a by-product of the Greek words zōon, which method “animal,” and morphē, which method “form,” or “shape.” It is a literary approach wherein animal attributes are imposed upon non-animal objects, humans, and events; and animal capabilities are ascribed to humans, gods, and different objects. Like on this instance,

“A couple of clients that have been heading for my slot commenced to knock against every different, like scared pigs in a chute.”

(A&P, with the aid of John Updike).

Here pigs are meant to be intelligent animals, and had been used as a simile to expose how humans were behaving.

Opposite of Anthropomorphism
Zoomorphism way assigning a person, event, or a deity with animalistic characteristics. Anthropomorphism, on the opposite hand, is ascribing human traits to different objects, animals, and inhuman creatures if you want to provide an perception into their functions.

Examples of Zoomorphism in Literature
One can find zoomorphism examples in literary pieces written for the duration of the time of the Romans and historical Greeks. However, present day literature has used it substantially as well.

Example #1: Barn Burning (By William Faulkner)
“The sisters got down, big, bovine, in a flutter of reasonably-priced ribbons; one in all them drew from the jumbled wagon bed a battered lantern, the alternative a worn broom. His father surpassed the reins to the older son and began to climb stiffly over the wheels … There turned into some thing about his wolf-like independence and even braveness when the advantage became at least impartial which impressed strangers, as though they were given from his latent ravening ferocity no longer so much a feel of dependability, as a sense that his ferocious conviction in the rightness of his own actions would be of benefit to all whose hobby lay with his …”

Bovines are cows. They are perceived often as gradual, stupid, and lazy animals that don't question their masters. On the opposite hand, wolves are ferocious predators. In the above excerpt, the ladies are represented as cows – having a lack independence, following their father without questioning. The father is as compared to a wolf, which has “ferocious conviction in the rightness of his very own actions.”

Example #2: A&P (By John Updike)
“You by no means recognize for positive how women’ minds work (do you without a doubt suppose it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?) however you got the idea she had talked the opposite two into coming in here with here, and now she was showing them the way to do it, walk sluggish and hold yourself straight … The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle – the ladies were strolling against the same old traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything) – have been quite hilarious…”

In this case, humming like a bee is supposed to mean that there is certainly nothing critical within the girls’ minds. While the clients are compared to sheep, who wander in businesses mindlessly down the aisles.

Example #3: The Holy Bible, Psalms (By Multiple Authors)
“For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 63:7, English Version)

“If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle inside the remotest a part of the sea…” (Psalm 139:9, English Version)

Here, God is represented as a bird. The bird’s/God’s wings are compared to the comfort and shelter that God offers to His human beings.

Example #4: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (By William Shakespeare)
“I have had a dream, past the wit of guy to say what dream it became: man is but an ass, if he go about to expound this dream …”

This excerpt is the speech of Bottom within the play, who had a dream in which he was an ass-headed monster adored by a suitable fairy queen. He describes that humans cannot recognise his dream; it's miles beyond their approach.

Function of Zoomorphism
Zoomorphism is a literary technique. Examples of zoomorphism are frequently discovered in brief stories (used to successfully offer special descriptions approximately the characters in stories). Records display that it has been used as a literary device considering the times of the historical Romans and Greeks. It is a completely helpful device for the powerful description of various characters. The motive of the usage of this approach is to create a figurative language and offer a comparison.

Zeugma Accumulation