【正文】 and wor ds ar e also symbols. ( P. 218. Oxfor d Concise Di ct ionary of Li ter ar y Term s. ) A sym bol i s a thi ng that suggest s more than it s li ter al m eaning. It exists wi dely even in our dail y l if e. Our l anguage itself i s sym bol . The dai ly gr et ings indicate t hat he passage of muni cati on i s open. Ring i s a sym bol of eter ni ty. The sign of cross indicates atonement. 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。 it is, rat her , a symbol the poet or the wr it er adopts f or the purpose of hi s/ her wor k, and it is t o be under stood only i n the context of that wor k. It dif f er s fr om the kind of symbol il ust rat ed by the f igure 3 because i t is concr ete and speci fi c. A poet or a wr it er uses symbols for the same r eason he/ she uses sim il es, metaphors, and images, etc: they help t o express hi s/her meani ng in a way that wil l appeal t o t he senses and t o the emot ions of the r eader. Most symbol s, i n li ter at ure and ever yday l i f e as wel l, posses a tr em endous condensi ng power. Thei r focusi ng on t he r elati onshi ps between t he visibl e (audible) and what they suggest can kindle it int o a single impact. Of cour se, i n li ter ar y wor ks, symbols, unl ike t hose in ordinar y li fe, usual y do not “st and for” any one meani ng, nor for anything absolutely def ini te。 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 , charac ter 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 f ield? 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 s peech) ? 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 ed wit h i t. Objects l ike f lags and crosses can functi on symbol icaly。, but an i sl and of r efuge f rom sl eepl ess night , chaos, loneli ness, ol d age, t he meani ngl esness of li fe, and im pending death. In some novels and stor ies, some characters ar e sym bol ic. Such character s usual y appear bri ef ly and r emain sl ightl y mysteri ous. I n Joseph Cornard’ s Heart of Darkness, a st eamship pany t hat hir es men to work in Congo mai nt ains in it s wait ing r oom two women who kni t bl ack wool —they symbol ize t he cl asical Fat es. Such a char act er i s sen as a port r ai t rather t han as a per son, at l east por t r ai t l i ke. Faul kner ’ s Mi ss Em i l y, t wi ce appear s at a wi ndow of her houses “l(fā) i ke t he car ven t or so of an i d