What is a Parable?
A short allegorical story with a moral lesson.
The Parable: A Story With a Lesson
A parable is a type of story that seeks to teach a lesson or moral. Parables are often used in religious contexts, such as in the Bible, but they can also be used in secular writing. Similar to fables, parables use metaphor and allegory to convey their message in an engaging and accessible way.
Parables typically follow a simple structure, with the story featuring characters and events that are relatable to the reader. The stories themselves, however, are often symbolic, with people, places, and things standing in for larger, abstract concepts.
For example, the parable of the Good Samaritan uses the story of a man who was robbed and beaten on the road to Jericho to teach the importance of showing kindness and compassion to others. In the story, a priest and a Levite pass by the man without offering assistance, but a Samaritan stops to help him. The Samaritan then pays for the man's care at an inn, showing mercy and kindness to a stranger.
Overall, parables are an effective way to convey a message in a way that is memorable and engaging for readers. By using metaphor and allegory, parables invite readers to think deeply about the lessons they teach and how they can apply them to their own lives.
Parables have been used extensively in literature to convey moral and social messages for centuries. Let's explore two examples of parables in literature.
In this classic philosophical piece, Plato utilizes a parable as a teaching tool. The allegory tells the story of prisoners who are chained in a cave and can only see the shadows of objects on a wall. When one prisoner is freed and sees the world outside, he realizes the true nature of reality and is able to return to the cave to share his knowledge. The allegory is meant to teach about the importance of education and the danger of blind acceptance of authority.
W. Somerset Maugham's short story, The Appointment in Samarra, is a parable that tells the story of a servant who sees Death in the marketplace and runs away in fear. The servant then flees to Samarra, where he thinks he has escaped his fate, but Death was actually surprised to see him in the marketplace and was only surprised because the servant was the one Death had an appointment with in Samarra. The story is a metaphor for the inescapability of fate and the inevitability of death