Luke 15...huh?

Ever sense I took Bib-Interp I always thought that I understood what the parables in Luke 15 meant: Jesus was talking to Pharisees and he was preaching to them the importance of a soul. Yea, well, kindof. I especially like that in a sense I have been freed to use allegory to try to understand the parables. I definately agree that too much allegory is a wrong, and I suppose no allegory is better than too much, however some is needed. I also am avery interested in the fact that there is three subjects to the prodigal son (father, older son and prodigal) rather than the one that I had always though of (the older son). I think that we need to undestand this in order to understand what Jesus was saying in these parables. I also believe that his initial conversation with the Pharisees in the beginning of Luke 15 is iomportant to the overall understanding of the parables.