A long time ago I read about how animals can symbolize different things in stories, depending on the culture the author draws from and other factors.
One thing that surprised me was that an example given was of an animal symbolizing corruption. But it wasn't a snake, a crow, or a rat. It was something normally considered kind of cute, I think (not to say nobody thinks snakes, crows, and rats aren't cute, but they don't exactly have the best rep overall.
If someone could help me figure out what animal the author was talking about I'd appreciate it. No, I don't know the book or the author but I'll know the animal when I hear it. Thank you very much.
Unfortunately neither of those were it, but I appreciate the effort.
Robert Long
Raven? vulture? hyena? bee? fly?
Jaxon Sanders
niggers jews check this out
Ryder Nguyen
It wasn't any of those either.
Austin Williams
Describe the animal > if this is a tapir joke I'm going to find where you live and beat you with every hardcover you own
Ryder Ward
a possum? a ferret?
Luke Roberts
It's those stupid tree rats with big eyes
Jason Ortiz
Crabs are quite.. ..shellfish
Adrian Watson
Koala.
James Sanchez
this desu
Dylan Davis
Maybe fox cause of the whole sly fox archetype
Cooper Clark
By corruption do you mean moral corruption or do you mean impurity?
Jordan Hall
A rabbit popped into my head reading this desu.
Adam Long
I THINK it was some kind of cute mammal but I'm not sure. No, it wasn't a tapir and this isn't a joke thread, although it is getting pretty funny.
ahahahaha
I think more the former than the latter
I wish I could remember what book I read it in--or maybe it was a web site. It's gnawing at my brain like crazy because I remember it was about animal symbols and it discussed them in reference to works of fiction in a way that was really interesting. Even if I can't find the original book, another one on the same subject might possibly have the same information I guess.
Oliver Watson
OP here again.
Yes, I was leaning towards rabbit too but apparently that's not it. Rabbits and hares symbolize things like fertility, Christianity (as they don't have strong natural defenses, the idea is that one like the rabbit will run to Jesus for salvation rather than trying to fight evil oneself). They can also symbolize craftiness, like in the story when Bre'er rabbit tricks his captor into letting him go in the field using reverse psychology.
But nothing I've seen at all links them with corruption of any kind.
Josiah Kelly
The Weasel.
Nolan Stewart
Goats? Monkeys? Neither are all that cute though. Do you remember if it was associated with a particular region, culture, or religion?
Samuel Thompson
Opossum
William Davis
pandas are the pinnacle of hedonism and could be a symbol of corruption. Bears in general as well, arguably
maybe dogs are corrupted by men to be dimwitted lackeys instead of their wild original form
Luis Torres
the mutt
Evan King
raccoon?
James Morris
mice? jesus op do we have to name every mammal until you guess it?
Cooper Jenkins
The hare is literally the devil in the Witch, I think that's a pretty good symbol of corruption (i.e. satan is a corrupted fallen angel who corrupts in turn)
Michael Perez
Guys, I got it! It wasn't a mammal at all. It was the sparrow. And it wasn't corruption...it was lewdness and vulgarity. And it wasn't a book I read it in. It was Wikipedia.