Allegory
A narrative form in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract concepts or ideas, often moral or political. Allegory functions on two levels: the literal narrative and the abstract meanings it encodes.
Real World
George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945) uses a farm revolt against a tyrannical farmer to represent the Russian Revolution and Stalinist dictatorship — every character maps onto a historical figure, making political critique safer to publish and read.
Exam Focus
Identify both levels of meaning explicitly — state the literal narrative, then name the abstract concept it represents, then analyse how the two levels interact.
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