【正文】 f fi ct ion i t is no l es f requent and no l ess i mport ant . The f act i s that, when a r eader reads a wor k of fi ct ion, his f ocus i s mostly cast upon t he plot , t he char act er , and t he language used, so t hat t he symbols ar e automati cal ly backgr ounded on t he reader ’s par t. But in some novels and stor ies, t he symbol ism l ooms so lar ge that he reader wi l l f ail t o get a pr ehensi ve under st andi ng of the wor k wi thout paying speci al at tenti on to t he sym bol s. The Scarl et Let ter by Nathaniel Hawt hor ne is one of such wor ks. The very ti tle poi nts t o a doubl e sym bol : the scar let let ter A wor n by Hest er conveys a mult ipl e of senses whi ch dif fer greatl y fr om what i t lit eral y stands for , and t he work eventual y develops i nto a t est and cri ti que of symbols t hem selves. Thomas Pynchon’s V. conti nues along m uch t he sam e li ne, testi ng an alphabeti cal symbol. Another exampl e is Her man Mel vil le’s Moby Dick, in which t he huge whi te whal e in t he ti tl e of the book acquir es greater meaning t han t he li teral dict ionar ydef init ion of an aquat ic m am mal. I t al so suggest s more t han the devil, t o whom some of t he char act er s li ken it . The huge whale, as the stor y unfolds, es t o i mply an ampl it ude of m eanings: am ong them t he for ces of nature and t he whole univer se. Lit erary symbol s ar e of two broad t ypes: one t ype i ncl udes t hose embodying uni versal suggesti ons of m eaning. Flowi ng water suggest s ti me and eter nity, a j our ney into the under worl d and r et urn f r om i t i s int er pret ed as a spir i tual experi ence or a dark ni ght of the soul, and a kind of r edempt ive odyssey. Such symbol s are used wi del y (and someti mes unconsci ously) i n west er n l it er atur e. The ot her type of sym bol secur es i ts suggesti veness not f rom qual it ies inherent in it self but fr om the way i n which i t is used in a gi ven work, in a special cont ext. Thus, i n MobyDi ck the voyage, t he l and, and the ocean are objects pr egnant wit h meanings that seem al most i ndependent of the author ’s use of t hem i n the st or y。 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 re ader , 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 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 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 f i ct i onal 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 ly associ at ed wi th i t. Obj ects 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 t here) ? Noun phrases: Ar e they r el atively si mple or pl ex? Wher e does the plexit 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, rel at ive clauses, etc)? Ver b phrases: Ar e there any signif i cant 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 t icular 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,