In my bachelor’s thesis, I analysed the characterisation of the five animal characters most commonly present in the Slovene writer Svetlana Makarovič’s fairy tales: cats, mice, male and female foxes, dogs, and hens and roosters. I concluded that Svetlana Makarovič often puts her animal protagonists in difficult situations that they may find hopeless and are therefore forced to seek help. Their characteristics, behaviour, and mentality are similar to those of a child - both children and the animal characters are highly responsive, stubborn, in need of attention, et cetera. The cats are usually attentive, often portrayed as caring mothers or playful offspring. Often starving, they have to fight in order to survive. However, not all cats are kind - they may also play the role of predators, however unsuccessful their hunting may be. The mice are often put in hopeless situations, which makes them miserable, but they always manage to pick themselves back up and team up with other animals to find solutions to their problems. The hens are stupid and gossipy - the only exception to this is chickchicken Emily, who thinks independently and does not allow herself to be manipulated by others. The roosters yearn for power and supremacy by nature; they must retain their reputation as leaders by any means necessary. In most of the analysed fairy tales, foxes play the role of more or less successful cunning predators who deceive their prey to get closer to them. They are usually arrogant and cocky, which drives other animals away from them. Dogs seldom appear in Svetlana Makarovič’s fairy tales, but when they do, they significantly influence the plot (e.g., other animals following their ideas).
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