【正文】 mine) ar e t her e of the addr eser addr esee rel at ionshi p? What ati tude does the author impl y t owar ds his/her subj ect? If a character’ s wor ds or t houghts ar e repr esented, i s thi s done by di rect quot at ion, or by some ot her method (eg i ndir ect speech, f ree i ndi rect speech) ? Ar e there si gni fi cant changes of st yle wi th respect to di f erent per sons ( nar rat or or char act er ) who i s supposedly speaki ng or thi nki ng the wor ds on the page? What i s the poi nt of view of the stor y? Ar e t he fr equent shi ft s of poi nt vi ew? If so, in whose voice i s the nar at or speaking? Chapter Seven Symbol What i s sym bol ? Symbol, in the sim pl est sense, anythi ng that st ands f or or r epresent s somet hi ng else beyond it—usual y an i dea convent ional ly associ at ed wi th i t. Obj ect s like f lags and crosses can functi on sym bol ical y。 and wor ds ar e also symbols. (P. 218. Oxf ord Concise Di ct ionary of Li ter ar y Term s. ) A symbol i s a t hi ng that suggest s mor e tha n i ts l iter al m eaning. I t exist s widely even i n our dai ly l if e. Our l anguage it self i s sym bol . The dai ly gr eet ings indi cat e that the pasage of m uni cat ion i s open. Ring i s a symbol of eter nit y. The sign of cross indicates atonement. The Bi g Ben sym bol iz es London, the Gr eat Wal China. Rit ual isti c act s are symboli c. I n church wedding t he bri de is handed over fr om t he fat her t o the gr oom . Hol y eati ng is symboli c of m uni on, bapti zi ng cleansi ng and r ebir th. The rai si ng and loweri ng of a nat ional fl ag cer tainl y suggest m eanings l ar ger t han t he act s themsel ves. And f inal y toasti ng and shaking hands on f orm al or i nf orm al occasions. As rhetor ical device, symbol i s di f erent fr om m et aphor , whi ch is l it eral y f al se but f igurat ively t rue. Unli ke al legory, which r epr esents abstr act t er ms l ike “l(fā)ove” or “t rut h,” symbols are per cept ible obj ects. I n li terat ur e alm ost anyt hing—par ti cul ar objects , char act er s, set ing, and act ions—can be symbol ic i f the author wishes to m ake i t so by either hint ing or insisti ng that the m at eri al means mor e than i t l it era l y does. Symbols are suggest ed through speci al t reatment such as i mager y, r epet it ion, connotati ve language, or ot her ar tist ic devices. In F. Scott Fi tzger ald’s novel The Great Gatsby, a huge pai r of bespect acl ed eyes stares across a wi ldness of ash heaps fr om a bi l boar d adver ti si ng the servi ces of an ocul ist. Repeat edl y appear ing i n the stor y, t he bespect acl ed eyes e t o mean mor e than simpl y the avail abi li ty of eye exami nat ion. A character in the stor y par es it to the eyes of God。 he hint s that some sad, passi onat e spi ri t is br ooding as i t watches t he pasing pr ocessi on of humani ty. Such an obj ect is a sym bol : in li terat ur e, a symbol is a thing that r efer s or suggests m ore t han it s li teral meaning. Ther e ar e quit e a l ot of symbols t hat appear in or dinary li fe, for the use of sym bol i s by no means of l im it ed to l it er atur e and ar t. For instance, a dove is a symbol of peace, t he fl ag is t he sym bol of a count ry, and the cross is the sym bol of t he Chri st ian r el igi on. These ar e sym bol s adopt ed by a whole society and ar e recogni zed by al l members of such a society. There ar e other ki nds of symbols, such as f igure 3, whi ch may be abst ract symbols. But symbol s in l it er atur e works ar e dif ferent fr om ei ther of the other types. General y speaking, a l iter ar y symbol does not have a mon social aceptance, as does t he fl ag。 i t is, rather, a symbol the poet or t he wri ter adopt s for t he pur pose of his/ her wor k, and i t i s to be underst ood onl y in the cont ext of t hat wor k. I t dif fers fr om t he ki nd of symbol i l ustr ated by t he fi gur e 3 because i t i s concr et e and specif ic. A poet or a wri ter uses s ymbols f or the same reason he/ she uses simi les, metaphor s, and i mages, et c: t hey hel p t o expr ess his/ her meaning i n a way t hat wi l appea l t o the senses and t o t he em otions of the r eader . Most symbols, in l it er atur e and everyday l if e as wel l, possess a tr emendous condensi ng power. Thei r focusi ng on t he relat ionshi ps bet wen t he visibl e (audible) and what they suggest can kindl e it int o a single impact. Of course, i n li ter ar y wor ks, symbols, unl ike t hose i n ordinar y li fe, usual y do not “st and for” any one meani ng, nor for anything absolutel y def ini te。 they point, t hey hi nt, or, as Henry James put it, t hey cast long shadows. Symbol ism The t erm symbol ism refer s to the use of symbols, or to a set of related symbols, which i s one of the devi ces t hat enri ch shor t fi ct ion and pensate f or it s bri ef nes i n space. 2. There are two broad t ypes of l it erary symbols Symbol is general y acknowl edged t o be one of t he most fr equentl y employed devi ces i n poet ry. In works of f icti on it i s no less fr equent and no l es i mport ant . The fact is t hat , when a reader r eads a wor k of fi cti on, his f ocus i s mostl y cast upon the plot , the char act er, and the l anguage used, so t hat t he symbol s ar e automat icaly backgrounded on the r eader’ s par t. But i n some novels and stor ies, t he sym bol i sm looms s o l ar ge that the r eader wil l fai l t o get a pr ehensive under standing of the wor k wi thout payi ng special at tenti on to the symbols. The Scarlet Let er by Nat hani el Hawt horne i s one of such works. The ver y ti tl e points t o a double symbol: t he scarl et l et ter A worn by Hest er conveys a m ul ti ple of senses which dif f er gr eat ly f rom what it li ter al ly st ands f or, and the wor k event ual ly devel ops into a test and cr it ique of symbol s them