A parable is a fictional analogy that intends to teach the audience a moral attitude. Throughout the style and narrative events of "The Parable of the Lost Son," this story serves as a metaphor with the intention of instructing a general audience by illustrating how people tend to lose themselves in greed and selfishness, and how the consequences of their actions eventually teach them to be careful with those feelings. Throughout its plot, the parable also demonstrates various other themes including forgiveness, parental love, anger, and jealousy.
The text is a short story being told by the character of another text, Jesus. By the nature and commonly known background of this character, this story may be interpreted as having the intention to illustrate a religious teaching about the human character, and as well as God's. The parable follows a a linear structure in which the younger son asks for his part of the inheritance, leaves to recklessly spend it in 'wild living', finds himself in hard times without resources, and returns home to find acceptance from his father as well as anger from his older brother. It doesn't provide a detailed description of main events but rather emphasizes on character reactions and interactions, therefore effectively illustrating various human tendencies in a short text. The conclusion to the parable also seems be left open ended since we don't know what happened after the father talked with the older son. This may be aimed with the intention of making the audience reflect and relate the story to their own lives. The language of the text is also simple, making it easy to understand for a general audience.
The parable's main character is the younger son, whose problems are well represented on how this text is also often called, "The Parable of the Prodigal Son". 'Prodigal' is defined as the reckless spending of money, practically what the younger son did before finding himself in hard times.
