【正文】 s 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 symbol s the msel ves. Thom as Pynchon’ s V. cont inues al ong much the same l ine, t est ing an alphabet ical symbol . Anot her example i s Herm an Melvi l e’ s MobyDi ck, i n whi ch t he huge whit e whal e i n the t it le of t he book acqui res gr eat er m eaning t han the l it er al di ctionary def ini ti on of an aquati c mammal . I t also suggest s mor e than t he devil , to whom som e 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 natur e and the whol e uni ver se. Li terar y sym bol s are of t wo broad types: one t ype includes those em bodyi ng universal suggest ions of meani ng. Fl owi ng wat er suggests t im e and et ernit y, a journey i nt o t he underwor ld and r etur n fr om i t is i nterpr eted as a spi ri tual exper ience or a dar k night of t he soul , and a ki nd of redempti ve odyssey. Such symbols ar e used wi dely ( and som et imes unconsciously) in west er n l iter ature. The ot her t ype of symbol secures i ts suggesti venes not f rom qual it ies inherent in i tself but fr om t he way in which i t is used in a gi ven work, in a special cont ext . Thus, in MobyDi ck the voyage, the l and, and the ocean ar e objects pr egnant wi t h meani ngs that seem al most i ndependent of the author’ s use of t hem in the stor y。 for instance, t he ways sentences ar e connect ed. Thi s is t he inter nal or ganizati on of a text. Under cont ext , roughly t he mater ial, mental , per sonal, int er act ional, soci al, insti tuti onal , cul tural , and hi st or i cal si tuati on in whi ch the di scourse i s made, we consider the external rel at ions of the l it er ary t ext or a part of t he text, seing it as a discour se pr esupposi ng a soci al r elati on bet ween it s par ti cipant s ( aut hor and r eader, char act er and character, char act er and r eader , et c. ), and a shar ing of knowledge and asumpti ons by par ti ci pant s. Cohesi on: Does t he text contai n logical or ot her l inks between sent ences (eg coordi nat ing conjunctions, li nki ng adverbi al s), or does i t tend to reply on impl icit connecti ons of m eaning? What sort of use is made of cross ref er ence by pr onouns ( she, it , they, etc) , by substi ute f orm s (do, so, etc) , or el ipsis? I s there any use made of el egant var iat ion—t he avoi dance of repeti ti on by substi tuti on of a descri pti ve phr ase ( as “the old lawyer” subst it ut es for t he r epet it ion of an earl ier “Mr Jones”) ? Ar e meaning connecti ons r einf or ced by repeti ti on of wor ds and phr ases, or by r epeatedl y usi ng words f rom the same semant ic fi el d? Context: Does the wr it er addr ess t he r eader dir ect ly, or thr ough t he wor ds or t houghts of some f icti onal char act er? What l inguisti c clues (eg f ir st per son pr onouns I , m e, m y, mi 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。 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 phr ases: Are they rel at ively si mple or plex? Wher e does t he plexity li e (i n prem odi fi cat ion by adjecti ves, nouns, et c, or i n post modif ication by pr eposi tion by pr eposi tional phr ases, relat ive clauses, et c)? Ver b phr ases: Are t here any signif icant depart ures fr om the use of t he simpl e past tense? For exam ple, not ice occur rences and f unct ions of the pr esent t ense, of t he progr essive aspect, of the perf ect aspect, of modal auxi liar ies. ot her phrase t ypes: I s t her e anyt hing t o be sai d about other phr ases t ypes, such as preposi ti onal phrases, adverb phr ases, adj ect ive phrases? Wor d classes: Havi ng alr eady consi der ed major wor d classes, we may consi der m inor word cl asses (eg f unct ional wor ds) , such as preposi ti ons, conj unct ions, pr onouns, deter miner s, auxi li ari es, int er jecti ons. Ar e par ti cul ar words of these types used f or par ticul ar ef e ct ( eg demonst rati ves such as this and t hat , negati ves such as not , not hing)? Gener al : Note whet her