【正文】 of eter ni ty. The sign of cross indicates atoneme nt. The Big Ben sym bol izes London, the Gr eat Wal l China. Rit ual isti c act s are symboli c. I n chur ch wedding t he br ide i s handed over fr om t he father to the groom. Hol y eating is symbol ic of muni on, bapti zi ng cleansing and r ebi rt h. The raising and l oweri ng of a nat ional f lag cert ainly suggest meanings lar ger t han t he act s themselves. And f inal y t oasti ng and shaking hands on f or m al or inf or mal occasions. As r het ori cal device, symbol is dif f er 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, ” sym bol s ar e percepti bl e objects. In l it er atur e almost anythi ng—part icular objects, 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 insi sting 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 art isti c devi ces. I n F. Scot t Fit zgeral d’ s novel The Gr eat Gat sby, a huge pair of bespectacled eyes st ar es acr oss a wil dness of ash heaps f r om a bi lboard advert ising t he ser vices of an oculi st . Repeatedly appeari ng in t he st ory, the bespectacled eyes e to mean more t han si mply t he avai labil it y of eye examinati on. A char act er i n t he st ory pares i 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 some sad, pasionate spir it i s brooding as it wat ches t he passi ng procesion of humanit y. Such an object is a symbol: in li terat ur e, a symbol is a thing that r efer s or suggests more t han i t s l i ter al m eaning. Ther e are qui te a l ot of symbols t hat appear i n ordi nar y li fe, f or t he use of symbol is by no m eans of li mit ed to li terat ur e and art . For i nst ance, a dove i s a sym bol of peace, the f lag i s the symbol of a countr y, and t he cr oss i s the symbol of t he Chri stian r eli gion. These are symbols adopted by a whol e societ y and ar e r ecognized by al members of such a soci et y. There ar e other kinds of sym bol s, such as f igur e 3, whi ch may be abst ract sym bol s. But symbols in li terat ur e wor ks ar e dif fer ent f rom e it her of the ot her t ypes. Gener al ly speaki ng, a l it erary symbol does not have a mon soci al accept ance, as does the f lag。 it s syl lables, the nar ator tel s us, “cast an East ern enchant ment over me.” Even a l ocal e, or a f eat ur e of physi cal topography, can provide r ich symboli c suggestions. The caf 233。 for instance, t he ways sentences ar e connected. Thi s is t he inter nal or ganizati on of a text. Under cont ext , roughly t he mater ial, ment al , per sonal, int eractional, soci al, insti tut ional , cul tur al , and hi st ori cal sit uat ion i n which t he discour se is made, we consider the exter nal r el ati ons of t he li terar y text or a par t of the text, seei ng it as a di scourse presupposing a social relat ion between i ts part icipants ( author and r eader , character and char act er , character and reader, etc.) , and a shari ng of knowl edge and assumpt ions by part icipants. Cohesion: Does the t ext cont ain l ogi cal or other li nks bet ween sentences ( eg coor di nat i 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 r efer 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 var iati on—t he avoidance of repet it ion by subst it uti on of a descri 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 field? Cont ext : Does t he wr it er address the r eader di r ectl y, or t hrough the wor ds or thought s of some fi ct ional character ? What li ngui st ic cl ues ( eg fi rst per son pronouns I , me, my, m ine) ar e t her e of the addresser addr esee rel at ionshi p? What at itude does the author im ply t owar ds his/her subj ect ? If a character ’s wor ds or t houghts ar e r epr esented, is t hi s done by di rect quot ation, or by som e other method ( eg indir ect speech, f r e i ndir ect speech) ? Ar e ther e si gnif icant changes of st yle wi th respect to di f erent per sons ( nar rat or or character) who is supposedl y speaking or t hi nking t he wor ds on t he page? What i s the point of view of t he story? Ar e t he fr equent shi ft s of poi nt vi ew? If so, i n whose voice is t he nar r at or speaki ng? Chapter Seven Symbol What is symbol ? Symbol, in the simpl est sense, anythi ng that st ands f or or r epr esents somethi ng else beyond it—usual y an idea conventi onal ly associ at