【正文】 port 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 themsel ves. Thomas Pynchon’ s V. cont inues al ong much the same l ine, t est ing an al phabetical sym bol . Anot her example i s Herman Melvi l e’ s MobyDi ck, i n whi ch the huge whit e whale i n the t it le of t he book acquir es gr eat er meaning than the l it er al di cti onary def ini ti on of an aquati c mammal . I t also suggests mor e than t he devil , to whom some of the characters l iken i t. The huge whal e, as t he st ory unf ol ds, es to impl y an ampli tude of meani ngs: among them the f orces of nat ur e and the whol e uni verse. Li ter ar y symbols are of t wo broad t ypes : one t ype includes those embodyi ng universal suggest ions of meani ng. Fl owing wat er suggests t ime and et ernit y, a journey i nt o t he underwor ld and r etur n fr om i t is i nterpr et ed as a spi ri tual experi ence or a dark night of t he soul , and a ki nd of re dem pti ve odyssey. Such symbols ar e used wi del y ( and somet imes unconsciousl y) in wester n li ter at ure. The other t ype of symbol secures i ts suggesti venes not fr om quali ti es inherent in i tself but fr om t he way in which it i s used i n a gi ven wor k, in a speci al cont ext . Thus, in Moby Di ck the voyage, the l and, and the ocean ar e object s pregnant wi th meani ngs t hat seem alm ost independent of t he aut hor’ s use of t hem in the stor y。 for i nst ance, the ways sent ences ar e connected. This i s the int ernal or gani zat ion of a t ext . Under context, r oughly the mat er ial , m ent al, per sonal, i nteracti onal , social, i nst it ut ional, cultur al, and histor ical sit uat ion in whi ch the discourse is m ade, we consi der t he ext er nal r elati ons of t he li ter ar y t ext or a part of the t ext , seeing i t as a di scourse pr esupposing a social r el ation bet ween its par ti ci pant s (author and reader , char acter and char act er, char act er and r eader, etc. ), and a shar ing of knowl edge and assum ptions by part ici pants. Cohesi on: Does the t ext cont ai n l ogi cal or other li nks bet ween sentences ( eg coor dinati ng conj uncti ons, l inking adver bials) , or does it t end t o r epl y on im plici t connect ions of meani ng? What sor t of use is made of cr oss r eference by pronouns (she, i t, they, et c), by substi tut e for ms ( do, so, et c) , or el li psi s? I s t her e any use m ade of elegant var iati on—the avoidance of r epet it ion by subst it ut ion of a descr ipt ive phrase (as “the ol d lawyer ” substi tutes f or the r epeti ti on of an ear li er “Mr Jones”)? Ar e m eaning connect ions rei nforced by r epet it ion of words and phrases, or by repeatedly using wor ds fr om t he sam e semanti c f ield? Cont ext : Does t he wri ter addres the r eader di rectl y, or t hr ough the wor ds or thought s of some f ict ional character? What li ngui st ic clues ( eg fi rst per son pr onouns I , me, m y, 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。 of tr ansit ive or i nt ransit ive verb constr uct ions) ? Ar e there any unusual order ings (i nit ial adverbi al s, f ront ing of object or plement, etc) ? Do speci al ki nds of clause constr uct ion occur (such as t hose wi th prepar ator y it or there) ? Noun phrases: Ar e they r el at ively si mple or plex? Wher e does t he pl exi t y li e ( in pr em odi fi cat ion by adjecti ves, nouns, et c, or i n post modif icati on by preposi ti on by preposi ti onal phrases, relat ive clauses, etc)? Ver b phrases: Ar e there any signif icant depart ures f rom the use of the simpl e past tense? For example, not ice occur r ences and f unct ions of the pr esent tense, of the progr essive aspect, of the per fect aspect , of m odal auxi li ar ies. ot her phr ase t ypes: Is t her e anyt hing t o be sai d about other phrases t ypes, such as preposi ti onal phrases, adver b phrases, adj ect ive phrases? Word cl asses: Having alr eady considered maj or wor d cl asses, we may consi der m inor word cl ases (eg f unct ional wor ds), such as pr eposit ions, conjunct ions, pr onouns, det er mi ner s, auxil iari es, int erj ecti ons. Ar e par ti cular words of these types used f or par ti cul ar ef fect (eg demonst rat ives such as thi s and that, negat ives such as not, nothing)? Gener al: Note whet her any gener al t ypes of gr ammati cal co