【正文】 g 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 ual ist 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 selves. And fi nal ly t oast ing and shaking hands on for 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 eit her hi nti ng or i nsi st ing that he mater ial means m ore t han it li ter al ly does. Symbol s ar e suggested t hr ough special tr eat ment such as imagery, repeti ti on, connot at ive l anguage, or other ar ti stic devi ces. I n F. Scot t Fitzgeral d’ s novel The Gr eat Gatsby, a huge pair of bespectacled eyes st ar es acr oss a wi l dness of ash heaps f rom a bil lboard advert ising t he ser vices of an oculi st . Repeatedly appear ing in t he st ory, the bespectacled eyes e to m ean m or e t han si mply t he avai labil ity of eye examinati on. A char act er i n the st or y pares it t o t he eyes of God。t ypes of sentence are used, what is t hei r functi on? Sent ence plexit y: Do sent ences on whole have a simpl e or a pl ex str uct ur e? What is t he aver age sentence lengt h? Does pl exity var y str ikingl y fr om one sentence t o another? I s plexit y mainl y due to ( i) coordi nat ion, (i i) subor dinati on, ( i i) j uxt aposit ion of clauses or of other equi val ent str uct ures? In what part s of the text does pl exi ty t end to occur ? clause types: What t ypes of clauses are favored—r elati ve cl auses, adverbial clauses, or di f erent types of nomi nal clauses? Ar e non f init e for ms monl y used, and i f so, of what types ar e t hey ( inf ini tive, i ng f or m, ed for m, ver bles st ructur e) ? What i s their f uncti on? Clause st ructur e: I s t her e anyt hi ng signif icant about cl ause elements (eg f requency of objects, adverbial s, plements。 he hi nts t hat som e sad, passionate spir it i s br oodi ng as it wat ches the passi ng procesion of humanit y. Such an object i s a symbol: in lit eratur e, a symbol is a thing t hat r efers or sugge sts m ore t han its lit eral meani ng. Ther e ar e quit e a lot of sym bol s that appear in or dinary lif e, for the use of sym bol i s by no me ans of l im ited t o l it er ature and ar t. For instance, a dove is a symbol of peace, t he fl ag is t he symbol of a count ry, and the cross is t he sym bol of the Chr ist ian r el igi on. These ar e sym bol s adopt ed by a whole soci ety and are recogni zed by al l member s of such a society. Ther e 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 eratur e works ar e dif ferent fr om ei ther of the other types. General y speaking, a l iter ary symbol does not have a m on social aceptance, as does t he fl ag。 i ts syll abl es, the nar ator tel ls us, “cast an Eastern enchant ment over me.” Even a local e, or a f eat ure of physi cal t opography, can pr ovi de ri ch symbol ic suggesti ons. The caf 233。 for i nstance, t he ways sentences ar e connected. Thi s is t he int er nal or gani zati on of a text. Under cont ext, roughly the mater ial, ment al , per sonal, i nt eracti onal, soci al, insti tut ional , cul tur al , and hi st ori cal sit uat ion i n which t he di scour se is m ade, we consi der t he ext er nal r elati ons of t he li terar y text or a par t of the t ext , seeing i t as a di scourse pr esupposing a social rel at ion between i ts part ici pants (author and reader , character and char act er , char act er and r eader, etc.) , and a shari ng of knowl edge and assum pt ions by part icipants. Cohesion: Does the t ext contain l ogical or other li nks bet ween sentences ( eg coor dinati ng conj unct ions, l inking adver bial s) , or does it t end t o r epl y on i mpli ci t connect ions of meani ng? What sor t of use i s made of cr oss refer ence by pr onouns (she, i t, t hey, et c), by subst itut e for ms ( do, so, et c), or el li psi s? Is t her e any use m ade of elegant va r iati on—t he avoidance of r epet it ion by subst it ution of a descr i pt ive phrase ( as “t he ol d l awyer ” substi tutes f or the r epeti ti on of an ear li er “Mr Jones”) ? Are meani ng connect ions r ei nfor ced by r epet it ion of wor ds and phr ases, or by r epeatedly using wor ds fr om the sam e sem ant ic f ield? Cont ext : Does t he wr iter address the r eader di r ectl y, or t hrough the wor ds or thought s of some fi ct ional char act er ? What l inguisti c clues (eg f ir st person pr onouns I, m e, my, mi ne) ar e there of t he addr esser addresse r elati onship? What at ti tude does t he aut hor i mply towar ds hi s/ her subject? I f a char act er ’ s words or thoughts are represent ed, is this done by dir ect quotati on, or by some ot her met hod (eg i ndi rect speech, fr ee indi rect speech) ? Are there signi fi cant changes of styl e wi th r espect t o dif fer ent persons (nar ator or char act er ) who i s supposedly speaki ng or thinki ng the wor ds on the page? What i s the poi nt of view of the story? Ar e t he fr equent shi ft s of poi nt vi ew? If so, in whose voice is the nar at or speaki ng? Chapter Seven Symbol What i s symbol ? 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 l