The Judiciary System
The story in itself is an allegory for the judiciary system of the early 19th century. The unknown author clearly has a positive connection to this system, as all references to it are perfect examples of justice. Those with bad intentions, the dogs, get banned from the trial, while those that are just there to see justice served are treated with humility and reference. The whole setting in quadruped court is an indication that the setting is to be imagined similarly to a human courtroom. From a modern point of view it is interesting to notice that this murder trial seems to have no jury and that absolute power comes from the judge himself.
Anthropomorphized Animals
As chap books were the main source of entertainment and education for a big part of the population in the early 19th century, it was often found that these two categories are combined. While "The Trial of an Ox for Killing a Man" has a clear moral behind it, the usage of animal characters might serve to make it more interesting to the mostly young audience. Additionally, while not really present in this example, animal characters make it easier for the author to criticize certain behavior in either groups or specific individuals. The unknown author chose to use the format of a fable to better symbolize the overarching moral of the story.
The Injuries
Bodily injuries are a recurring motif through "The trial of an Ox for Killing a Man". The story offers two distinct injuries, one fatal wound to the drover and the collection of smaller injuries to the ox. The trial tries to determine which of the two is a more serious offense and comes to the clear solution that repeated torture is more serious than one single injury. This comparison also gives a warning to the audience that their every day cruelty might lead to something more serious on their body one day.
Inhumane behaviour
An interesting motive that is repeated throughout the story is the concept of inhumane behavior. The animals at court accuse the deceased drover of this and coming from the mouths of animals the term gets a new feel to it. If it is a common term that has been detached from its original meaning that far that the original author did not think about it or if it was a deliberate choice is hard to tell. In any way, the usage of the term through the mouths of animals asks the question what humane behavior would be.
Male Dominance
While not directly stated in the story, it is interesting to notice that all animals used to represent the individual characters are male. While this could be discarded as pure coincident in most cases it is very striking in the case of the worker bee. As one of the main supporters of the ox, an animal that is by nature only female is described as male (using the male denominator "he"). Looking at this from the historical perspective the sad truth that only males were allowed to attend court comes to mind. However, from a modernistic perspective, this disregard of biological realities seems to be too deliberate to not be considered at least slightly misogynistic.
