A story where the characters, events, and setting represent something larger - a political system, a moral lesson, or an abstract idea.
An allegory is a narrative in which the surface story systematically represents a deeper meaning. Every major element - characters, events, settings - maps onto something outside the text, whether that's a political reality, a philosophical argument, or a moral framework. Think of it as a metaphor that runs the entire length of a story rather than living in a single sentence.
Allegory lets you tackle huge, controversial, or abstract ideas through the safety and accessibility of story. You can critique a government without naming it, explore the nature of faith without preaching, or make an argument about human nature that readers arrive at themselves. The trick is making the surface story compelling enough that readers who miss the deeper layer still have a great read.
Each animal maps to a real historical figure (Napoleon is Stalin, Snowball is Trotsky), and the farm's descent from revolution to tyranny mirrors the Soviet Union's trajectory.
The boys stranded on the island allegorize the fragility of civilization itself - each character representing a different human impulse from reason to savagery.
One of the most famous allegories in English, where the character Christian's journey to the Celestial City represents the soul's path to salvation.
If your reader feels like they're solving a code rather than reading a story, you've lost them. The surface narrative needs to be genuinely engaging on its own terms.
Even allegorical characters need to feel like people, not placeholders. Give them desires and contradictions that don't always map neatly to the allegory.
Allegory is a choice, not a requirement. Plenty of great fiction operates entirely on the literal level. Use allegory when you have something specific to say that benefits from indirection.
Choose an abstract concept you care about - justice, ambition, loneliness, whatever resonates. Now design a short story scenario (just the setup, not the whole plot) where three characters each represent a different attitude toward that concept. Write a one-paragraph pitch. Does the scenario work as a story even without knowing the allegorical layer?