【正文】 and wor ds are also symbols. (P. 218. Oxf ord Concise Di cti onary of Liter ary Terms. ) A symbol is a t hing t hat suggests mor e t han i t s l it er al meani ng. I t exi st s widely even i n our dai ly l if e. Our l anguage it sel f is symbol. The dai ly gr eet ings i ndi cat e that the pasage of m uni cat ion i s open. Ri ng is a symbol of et er nit y. The sign of cr oss i ndi cat es at onement. The Bi g Ben symbolizes London, the Gr eat Wal China. Rit ualist ic acts are symbol ic. In church wedding t he bri de is handed over fr om the f at her t o the gr oom. Holy eati ng is symboli c of munion, bapti zing cleansi ng and rebir th. The rai si ng and loweri ng of a national fl ag cer tainl y suggest m eani ngs l ar ger than the acts t hem selves. And fi nal ly t oast ing and shaking hands on f or mal or infor mal occasi ons. As r het ori cal devi ce, symbol is dif fer 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, ” symbol s ar e perceptibl e objects. I n l it er atur e al most anythi ng—part icular object s, 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 i nsi sting that he mater ial m eans m ore than it l it er aly does. Sym bol s are suggested t hrough special tr eat ment such as im ager y, r epeti ti on, connot ati ve language, or other art isti c devi ces. In F. Scott Fit zger al d’s novel The Gr eat Gat sby, a huge pai r of bespectacled eyes st ares acr oss a wil dness of ash heaps fr om a bi l boar d adver tisi ng the services of an ocul ist. Repeat edl y appeari ng in the stor y, t he bes pect acled eyes e to mean more t han si mply the avai labil it y of eye exami nat ion. A char act er in t he st ory par es i t to t he eyes of God。 i t is, rather , a symbol the poet or t he wr it er adopt s f or t he pur pose of hi s/ her wor k, and i t is t o be under st ood onl y i n the context of t hat wor k. It dif fer s fr om t he kind of sym bol i l ust rated by t he fi gure 3 because i t is concr ete and specif ic. A poet or a wri ter uses s ymbols f or the same r eason he/ she uses sim iles, metaphor s, and i mages, etc: they help t o expr es hi s/ her m eaning i n a way that wi l l appeal t o the senses and to the emoti ons of t he reader . Most symbols, in li terat ur e and ever yday l if e as wel , possess a t remendous condensing power. Their f ocusing on t he rel at ionships bet ween the vi si ble ( audi bl e) and what t hey suggest can ki ndl e i t i nto a si ngl e im pact . Of course, in l it erar y wor ks, sym bol s, unl ike those in or dinary li fe, usual y do not “st and for” any one meani ng, nor for anything absol utely def ini te。 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。, but an island of r ef uge fr om sleepless ni ght, chaos, lonel iness, old age, the meaninglessness of l if e, and i mpendi ng deat h. I n some novel s and st ori es, som e char act er s are symboli c. Such char act ers usual ly appear br iefl y and r emai n sli ght ly myst er ious. In Joseph Cor nar d’s Heart of Darknes , a st eam shi p pany t hat hi r es m en t o wor k i n Congo m ai nt ai ns i n i t s wai t i ng r oom t wo wom en who kni t bl ack wool —t hey sym bol i ze t he cl assi cal Fat es. Such a char act er i s seen as a por t r ai t r at her 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