The use of animals in literature as either characters with human qualities or in situations that humans face, has long been a device of authors who hope to creatively convey moral messages in their work. Animals often appear in children's literature such as fables in order to make lessons pleasurable and attractive to young readers. In adult literature, animals and the animal-like are commonly used by authors to demonstrate and instruct readers on lessons in the human experience. Stories of life in the Great White North are perhaps appropriately and most often expressed in terms of the environment and nature because of the vastness and dominance of the land in much of Canada. Interestingly, it seems that many Canadian authors use animal imagery because of the sense of how imminent the animalistic is in the environment the theme of biological and geographical origins occupy such a central place in Canadian literature. Interestingly, it seems that many Canadian authors make a strong connection to the animal world because of the sense of how imminent the animalistic is in the environment. . As Canadian readers, animal imagery can help us to recognize things in our behavior. In Sheila Watson's The Double Hook and in Margaret Atwood's Surfacing we read how both authors draw on animal imagery in order to effectively get across the themes and focus of their novels.
             Sheila Watson's The Double Hook, is a dark and complex novel whose central message seems to be to warn the reader of the consequences and costs of trying to break free from community, duty and obligation. In this cautionary novel, Watson creatively makes use of three very different animal and animal-like characters to communicate her ideas. She incorporates a Native American mythological animal figure, a parrot and the image of horses in the design of her work.
             Watson sets the eerie and ominous tone of the novel by introducing the reader to the mythica...