Human or Horse? : Anthropomorphic and Zoomorphic Instances in The Horse Whisperer

Sammanfattning: This essay aims to show how anthropomorphism, and also to some extent zoomorphism, is created in Nicholas Evans’s novel The Horse Whisperer.  Through parallel events and the usage of the concepts horse whisperers and horse whispering, a special connection is created between Grace, the main human character, and Pilgrim, the main horse character. This essay argues that their connection grounds for the reader to see the horse anthropomorphically and the human to some extent zoomorphically. With the use of Daston and Mitman’s notions of anthropomorphism and zoomorphism, this essay analyses how the concepts manifest themselves in the novel. The definition of horse whisperers and horse whisperering within this essay derives from the work of Brannaman and Parelli, this due to their theoretical value and knowledge about horse whispering.