Ethnic identity in fiction

For each nation, due to the occupied territory and a peculiar animal, plant environment, it has a centuries-old experience of communicating or taming these animals and using plants for medicinal purposes. Images of these animals migrate from national folklore to national literature. For example, for a Chinese, the image of a dragon is significant, for a Russian – a bear, for a Kazakh – a horse. If one takes an excursion into history, the image of a horse originates from prehistoric times. The horse has accompanied man since the Stone Age; the domestication of the horse marks a turning point in world history. The above-mentioned image is still in demand in world literature. Horse accompanied a person, both in worldly life and in the afterlife. So, the horse symbolizes both life and death. The article analyzes the works, the central image of which is devoted to the archetypal image of a horse. As an example, a detailed analysis of the work Centaur by A. Altai, Man-Deer by O. Bokeev and Village of Centaurs by A. Kim is given. As a rule, authors in connection with the problem of centaurism raise the question of the otherness of their characters; this difference affects both the external and internal world of the character.