Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables (Jacobs), Reading A

    The stories that I chose to take notes on this week were from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs (1894). The particular section of the unit that I focused on was the section on Hares because I enjoyed the hidden messages of the stories the most. As is typical with many of Aesop’s Fables, all the stories have a hidden message in them that relates back to real life advice. In the stories about the hare, you can see the hare with all different personalities as it is timid in the first story, confident and humble in the second story, and as a social butterfly in the third story. In the stories about the Hare, there are many different interactions with the hare and other animals. There are no humans in these stories, but the different types of animals represent humans and the type of personality traits that people have.

(Stories of the Hare by Walter Crane (1887) via UN-Textbook)

    The length of the stories is quite short compared to other stories but are very typical of Aesop’s Fables and the style of writing makes sure that the stories are quick and to the point. Overall, the length and style of the story make it so that the story is able to represent the hidden message clearly without adding too much fluff. The last thing that stood out to me in these stories is the use of dialogue. Through the use of dialogue, you are able to see exactly what the personality each character has in each story and brings them to life. This use of dialogue is something that I don’t use often when writing and should try to implement to give more personality to the characters in my stories.