The pathetic fallacy is the treatment of inanimate objects as if they had human feelings, thought, or sensations. The word 'pathetic' in this use is related to 'pathos' or 'empathy' (capability of feeling), and is not pejorative. In the discussion of literature, the pathetic fallacy is similar to personification.
Read more about Pathetic Fallacy: History, In Legend, In Literature and Popular Culture, In Science
Famous quotes containing the words pathetic fallacy, pathetic and/or fallacy:
“All violent feelings have the same effect. They produce in us a falseness in all our impressions of external things, which I would generally characterize as the “pathetic fallacy.””
—John Ruskin (1819–1900)
“Teenage girls are extremists who see the world in black-and- white terms, missing shades of gray. Life is either marvelous or not worth living. School is either pure torment or is going fantastically. Other people are either great or horrible, and they themselves are wonderful or pathetic failures. One day a girl will refer to herself as “the goddess of social life” and the next day she’ll regret that she’s the “ultimate in nerdosity.””
—Mary Pipher (20th century)
“It would be a fallacy to deduce that the slow writer necessarily comes up with superior work. There seems to be scant relationship between prolificness and quality.”
—Fannie Hurst (1889–1968)