What Is The Allegory In Wiese's The Story About Ping

The Story About Ping was written by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese. This book was published in 1933 by Grosset and Dunlap and contains 32 pages. The genre of this book is fiction and could be considered a fable. Using animals to teach a moral lesson is often used to relate to children and to direct their attention to the lesson being taught. For instance with Ping, the author’s message is about avoiding a consequence and the outcome that follows, also underlying the importance of family. One evening he loses track of time and decides to not return to the boat fearing he might get spanked since he’d be the last duck to board. He’s left with making the decision of being last and receiving a spank or choosing to avoid the spank. His decision …show more content…
The duck family lives on a wise-eyed boat with their master, a Chinese man who keeps them in line. The point of view in this story is told by a narrator. The protagonist is Ping who represents the allegory in this story time adventure. The representation of characters, actions, and settings focuses on the circumstances that Ping faces during his plight to reunite with his family. He runs into several situations including large birds with rings around their necks. These birds work for their masters by catching large fish and in turn are rewarded with smaller fish that they are able to swallow. Then Ping finds himself being lured by rice cake crumbs towards a boat when all of the sudden a little boy enters the water capturing Ping. The boy’s family intentions are to make Ping their dinner. The young boy finds Ping to be too beautiful and decides to set the little duck free turning against the family. This shows the innocence of the young Chinese boy and also acting on his instincts of saving the duck by doing to right thing and setting Ping free. The tone intensifies as the mood gets more serious for little Ping. The feeling of being late, scared, frightened, and isolated refers to the tone throughout the story. Ping is also portrayed as being brave, obedient, determined, and curious making him the …show more content…
The sun is setting and there are China boats on the river with their large square white sails. There is also a tiered building on land next to the river which also represents a Chinese style. The title, The Story About Ping, is all in orange capital letters with an Asian font. The title along with the picture perhaps draws a curious reader wondering about the ethnic background of Ping and what is in store for this lively little duck. I would recommend this book to anyone with young children. It’s refreshing to read something different with the added bonus of a suspenseful tale keeping adults and children’s attention all the way through. I am also to drawn to the length of the book. Sometimes we just want an easy read to put our children to bed with and this book does the