【正文】 i ne) ar e there of t he addr eser addr esse relat ionshi p? What at ti tude does t he aut hor impl y towar ds hi s/her subject? I f a char act er’ s words or t houghts ar e represent ed, i s this done by di rect quotat ion, or by some ot her m et hod (eg i ndi rect speech, f ree i ndi rect speech) ? Ar e there si gni fi cant changes of st yl e wi th r espect to di f er ent persons (nar rator or char act er ) who i s supposedly speaking or thi nki ng the wor ds on the page? What is t he poi nt of vi ew of the stor y? Are t he fr equent shi ft s of poi nt vi ew? If so, in whose voice i s the nar ator speaking? Chapter Seven Symbol What i s sym bol ? Symbol, i n the sim plest sense, anyt hi ng that st ands f or or represent s som et hing else beyond it—usual ly an i dea convent ional y asoci ated wi th i t. Obj ect s li ke fl ags and crosses can f uncti on symbol ical y。 and wor ds are also symbols. (P. 218. Oxf ord Concis e Di cti onary of Liter ary Terms. ) A symbol is a t hing t hat suggests mor e t han i t s l it er al meani ng. I t exi st s widely even i n our dai ly l if e. Our l anguage it sel f is symbol. The dai ly gr eet ings i ndi cat e that the pasage of m uni cat ion i s open. Ri ng is a symbol of et er nit y. The sign of cr oss i ndi cat es at onement. The Bi g Ben symbolizes London, the Gr eat Wal China. Rit ualist ic acts are symbol ic. In church wedding t he bri de is handed over fr om the f at her t o the gr oom. Holy eati ng is symboli c of munion, bapti zing cleansi ng and rebir th. The rai si ng and loweri ng of a national fl ag cer tainl y suggest m eani ngs l ar ger than the acts t hem se lves. And fi nal ly t oast ing and shaking hands on f or mal or infor mal occasi ons. As r het ori cal devi ce, symbol is dif fer ent f rom metaphor, which i s li ter al ly false but fi gur ati vel y tr ue. Unl ike al egor y, whi ch repr esents abst ract term s li ke “l(fā) ove” or “tr uth, ” symbol s ar e perceptibl e objects. I n l it er atur e al most anythi ng—part icular object s, character s, set ti ng, and acti ons—can be symboli c if t he aut hor wi shes t o make it so by ei ther hi nti ng or i nsi sting that he mater ial m eans m ore than it l it er aly does. Sym bol s are suggested t hrough special tr eat ment such as im ager y, r epeti ti on, connot ati ve language, or other art isti c devi ces. In F. Scot Fit zger al d’s novel The Gr eat Gat sby, a huge pai r of bespectacled eyes st ares acr oss a wil dness of ash heaps fr om a bi l boar d adver tisi ng the services of an ocul ist. Repeat edl y appeari ng in the stor y, t he bespect acled eyes e to mean more t han si mply the avai labil it y of eye exami nat ion. A char act er in t he st ory par es i t to t he eyes of God。 he hints t hat some sad, pasionate spir it i s brooding as i t wat ches t he passing procesi on of humanit y. Such an object is a symbol: i n li ter at ure, a sym bol i s a thi ng that refer s or suggest s more than it s li ter al meaning. Ther e are qui te a l ot of symbols t hat appear i n ordinar y li fe, for t he use of symbol i s by no means of li mit ed to l it eratur e and ar t. For i nstance, a dove i s a symbol of peace, the f lag i s the s ymbol of a countr y, and the cr oss i s the symbol of t he Chri st ian r eli gi on. These ar e symbols adopt ed by a whol e soci ety and ar e recogni zed by al l members of such a societ y. There ar e other kinds of symbols, such as f igure 3, whi ch may be abst rac t symbol s. But sym bol s in lit eratur e wor ks ar e dif fer ent f rom ei ther of the other types. General ly speaki ng, a l it er ary symbol does not have a m on social acceptance, as does t he fl ag。 i t is, rather , a symbol the poet or t he wr it er adopt s f or t he pur pose of hi s/ her wor k, and i t is t o be under st ood onl y i n the context of t hat wor k. It dif fer s fr om t he kind of sym bol i l ust rated by t he fi gure 3 because i t is concr ete and specif ic. A poet or a wri ter uses s ymbols f or the same r eason he/ she uses sim iles, metaphor s, and i mages, etc: they help t o expr es hi s/ her m eaning i n a way that wi l l appeal t o the senses and to the emoti ons of t he reader . Most symbols, in li terat ur e and ever yday l if e as wel , possess a t remendous condensing power. Their f ocusing on t he rel at ionships bet ween the vi si ble ( audi bl e) and what t hey suggest can ki ndl e i t i nto a si ngl e im pact . Of course, in l it erar y wor ks, sym bol s, unl ike those in or dinary li fe, usual y do not “st and for” any one meani ng, nor for anything absol utely def ini te。 they point, t hey hi nt, or, as Henry James put i t, t hey cast l ong shadows. Symboli sm The t er m symbol ism r efer s to t he use of symbols, or t o a set of r elated symbols, which i s one of t he devi ces t hat enri ch shor t f ict ion and pensate f or it s bri ef ness i n space. 2. There are two broad t ypes of l it erary sym bols Symbol is gener al y acknowl edged to be one of t he most f requent ly em pl oyed devices in poet ry. In works of fi ction it is no les f r equent and no l es i mport ant . The fact i s that, when a r eader r eads a wor k of fi ction, his f ocus i s mostl y cast upon the plot , t he char act er , and the l anguage used, so t hat t he symbol s ar e automati cal ly backgrounded on t he reader’ s par t. But in some novels and stor ies, t he sym bol ism looms so lar ge that the r eader wil l fail t o get a pr ehensive under st andi ng of the wor k wi thout paying speci al at tenti on to t he symbol s. The Scarlet Let ter by Nat haniel Hawt hor ne i s one of such works. The ver y ti tl e points t o a double symbol: the scarl et l et ter A wor n by Hester conveys a mul 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 s