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If you are talking about the Biblical story of the prodigal son, it is a parable because it is a story that is meant to illustrate a point. It is meant to illustrate the idea of God's...
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The parable as a form contains many characteristics of fiction: plot, character development, description, dialogue, and a consistent point of view. The principal difference is that in the parable genre, literary characteristics are less important than theme and theology. This helps to bring the didactic lesson to the forefront and not get lost in the literary diversions of the story itself. the length of the parable is a noteworthy characteristic as the parable form can not have an indeterminate length, but is quite short in the number of verses that it generally must contain.
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