Allegorical techniques in the novel The Upside Down River by Jean-Claude Mourlevat

Allegory is one of the most widely used tools for education for a long time. God in His heavenly books, prophets in preaching and instruction, and educators and teachers in conveying concepts and teaching use allegory to communicate with their audiences in indirect and effective ways.The present study attempted to first discover the allegories used in the adolescents’ novel “The Upside Down River” (La rivière à l'envers) by Jean-Claude Mourlevat; and then examine the structure, method, and techniques of allegories in it. While introducing the narrative-educational allegory, it was found that Mourlevat has used four methods to present allegories. These include homology, highlighting language and ambiguity in speech, engaging the five senses in fixing the events of the subconscious mind, and benefiting from mythical characters and archetypes. The allegories used in “The Upside Down River” are so deep and interpretable that the human mind lays down its weapon of consciousness in front of them and understands the allegory by activating the subconscious mind. This makes the adolescent audience have more empathy with the main character of the story, and in addition to indulging, to make it their role model.