Mileni Arriaga

Eng 308
February 25, 2016

Research Essay: Talking Animals

In childrens stories such as, Aesops, Kipling, and Potter they include characters that are

talking animals with human like features which is called anthropomorphism. In these stories

these animals wear clothes and talk as if they were real people bringing their character to life in

the imagination of the children. The characters develop as the story develops which carries a

message that is taught by the actions of these talking animals to teach children a lesson.

In the short story, The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, the characters are a family

of talking rabbits where Peter rabbit disobeys his mother and ends up with no clothes, shoes, or

supper at the end of the day. Peter is a rabbit that lives with his mother and sisters. He wears a

blue jacket and shoes, and with his curiosity he ends up where his mother told him not to go, Mr.

McGregors garden. The character of Peter develops throughout the short story in the way that a

toddler would act, if their mother says not to do it they would still do the act just to see what

would happen. The story gives children the lesson that obeying their parent is best unless they

want to get into some deep trouble. It gives children the idea of what occurs when they disobey

their parents, but with characters that attract their attention more than if these stories were told

with human characters.

In the childrens story, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter, Benjamin Bunny

is Peter Rabbits cousin who as well disobeys and goes to Mr. McGregors garden to retrieve the

clothes and shoes Peter left behind the previous day. Benjamin Bunny as well as Peter Rabbit

wears a jacket, shoes, and is a talking animal. The character of Benjamin Bunny develops the
same way as the character of Peter Rabbit did and gave the lesson that someone will always be

there to save them from their troubles, just like old Mr. Benjamin. Just like Peter Rabbit, talking

Benjamin Bunny gives the more of an attraction to children because they are animals that are

talking rather than humans, and because animals do not actually talk the story sticks to children.

Childrens stories like Arthur series by Marc Brown, they develop different kinds of

talking animals. Arthur is a bear that lives with his parents, has two little sisters, and his best

friend is Baxter and he is a bunny. The life of the Arthurs character is similar as any child in

elementary school. They have a best friend in school, they put themselves in sticky situations and

do not know how to get themselves out without the help of others, and they do not get along with

their younger siblings because theyre annoying. These stories give children a view of

everyday situations that they go through when in school as they grow older and go through grade

school. Whether children read the books or watch the television series, the lessons like obeying

their parents is best otherwise they can get into big trouble are attained with the help of these

talking animals.

Based on the article, Do cavies talk? The effect of anthropomorphic picture books on

childrens knowledge about animals by the authors Patricia A. Ganea, Caitlin F. Canfield,

Kadria Simons- Ghafari, and Tommy Chou, talking animals do affect the development stages of

a child when exposed to such stories. In the article it states that childrens books with talking

animals affect children by depiction and language because animals are demonstrated to children

wearing clothes and talking as if a human when they are not humans just have human features.

Two studies were conducted that demonstrated the effect of talking animals when it came

to gathering information and learning from it. In the first study, they gathered children from the

age group of three to five and presented the children six books and two that were created
specifically for this study. The books created were not anthropomorphic which contained

realistic images and realistic language, and the second one was an anthropomorphic language

which had realistic images and anthropomorphic language. The first study gave the results of that

younger children gather information when describing animals whether it is presented to them

through the form of anthropomorphism or realism.

In the second study, children were presented with six different books and the study was

similar as the first but in this study the parents were included. In the books given to the children

animals that they were not familiar with or knew facts about them were part of the stories. This

study proved that anthropomorphic illustrations did not help the children gather information

being present to them in these books. What did have an effect on them were the books with

anthropomorphic pictures. The picture helped the children stick with the information proven to

them.

Talking animals will be part of the learning process for children whether it affects them

or not. A childrens story is not a childrens story if it does not include talking animals in it just

like the short stories that have been assigned in class. Children are most attracted to stories that

they know will have animals in them because at young ages that is what fills childrens interest.

Most children growing up are around either a dog or a cat in their home and commonly the

animals that are in the story books are not animals that are held as pets. For that reason, giving

life to an animal with human like characteristics in a storybook does not affect their learning

abilities. Technology is slowly taking over but even though it is mainly what people rely on

when it comes to everything, in schools children are not as exposed to technology as they might

be at home. In school, children still visit libraries weekly and pick out their favorite books which

usually have a talking animal as a character. Children will always be exposed to books with
talking animals as they learn how to read. Talking animals in childrens stories feed the

imagination of children to teach them real life lessons which keep these books active in

childrens learning process.

WORK CITED:

Ganea, Patricia A., Canfield, Caitlin F., Simons-Ghafari, Kadria., Chou, Tommy. Do

Cavies Talk? The Effect of Anthropomorphic Picture Books on Childrens Knowledge

About Animals. Frontiers in Psychology. 2014.

Potter, Beatrix. Peter Rabbit and Other Tales.