A quick little writer’s game: coming up with implied morals (aka Aesops) for your favorite works of fiction.
Eg…
Three Little Pigs: If you have a job to do, do it right – quality can be a matter of life and death.
The Lord of the Rings: It is not the grand gestures of the all-powerful but rather the small actions of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay.
Norwegian Wood (Haruki Murakami): We can learn to embrace the messy adult world while preserving a healthy connection to our childhood ideals (…or can we?)
Bonus question: think about what the implied morals of your favorite stories might say about you and your personal ethical beliefs.