【正文】 ol i n t he ni che. ” Though Faul kner i nvest s her wi t h l i f e and vi gor , he al so cl ot hes her i n sym bol i c hi nt s: she seem s al m ost to t ypes of sentence are used, what is t hei r functi on? Sent ence plexit y: Do sent ences on whole have a simpl e or a pl ex str uct ur e? What is t he aver age sentence lengt h? Does pl exity var y str ikingl y fr om one sentence t o another? I s plexit y mainl y due to ( i) coordi nat ion, (i i) subor dinati on, ( i i) j uxt aposit ion of clauses or of other equi val ent str uct ures? In what part s of the text does pl exi ty t end to occur ? clause types: What t ypes of clauses are favored—r elati ve cl auses, adverbial clauses, or di f erent types of nomi nal clauses? Ar e non f init e for ms monl y used, and i f so, of what types ar e t hey ( inf ini tive, i ng f or m, ed for m, ver bles st ructur e) ? What i s their f uncti on? Clause st ructur e: I s t her e anyt hi ng signif icant about cl ause elements (eg f requency of objects, adverbial s, plements。 they point, t hey hi nt, or, as Henry James put it, t hey cast long shadows. Symbol ism The t erm sym bol ism refer s to t he use of symbols, or to a set of r elated symbols, which i s one of t he devi ces t hat enri ch shor t fi ct ion and pensate f or it s bri ef ness i n space. 2. There are two broad t ypes of l it erary symbols Symbol is general y acknowl edged to be one of t he most f r equently em ployed devi ces i n poet ry. In works of fi cti on it is no les fr equent and no l es i mport 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 sym bol s ar e automat ical ly backgrounded on the r eader’ s par t. But in some novels and stor ies, t he symbol ism looms so lar ge that the r eader wil l fail t o get a pr ehensive under standi ng of t he wor k wi thout payi ng special atenti on t o the symbols. The Scarlet Let er by Nat hani el Hawt horne i s one of such works. The ver y t itl e points to a double symbol: t he scarl et l eter A worn by Hest er conveys a m ul ti ple of sens es which di f er gr eat ly f r om what it l iter aly st ands f or, and the wor k event ual ly develops int o a test and cr it ique of sym bol s themsel ves. Thomas Pynchon’s V. cont inues al ong much the same l ine, test ing an al phabeti cal sym bol . Anot her example i s Herm an 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 m eani ng than the l it er al di cti onar y defi ni ti on of an aquati c mammal . It also suggests mor e than t he devi l, to whom some of the characters liken i t. The huge whal e, as t he st ory unf olds, es to impl y an ampli tude of meani ngs: among t hem the f orces of nat ur e and the whol e universe. Li ter ar y symbols are of t wo broad t ypes: one type incl udes those embodyi ng universal suggest ions of meani ng. Fl owing wat er suggests time and et erni ty, a journey i nto t he underwor l d and retur n f rom it is inter pr eted as a spir it ual exper ience or a dar k night of the 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。 it s syl lables, the nar ator tel s us, “cast an East ern enchant ment over me.” Even a l ocal e, or a f eat ur e of physi cal topography, can provide r ich symboli c suggestions. The caf 233。t ypes of sentence are used, what is t hei r functi on? Sent ence plexit y: Do sent ences on whole have a simpl e or a pl ex str uct ur e? What is t he aver age sentence lengt h? Does pl exity var y str ikingl y fr om one sentence t o another? I s plexit y mainl y due to ( i) coordi nat ion, (i i) subor dinati on, ( i i) j uxt aposit ion of clauses or of other equi val ent str uct ures? In what part s of the text does pl exi ty t end to occur ? clause types: What t ypes of clauses are favored—r elati ve cl auses, adverbial clauses, or di f erent types of nomi nal clauses? Ar e non f init e for ms monl y used, and i f so, of what types ar e t hey ( inf ini tive, i ng f or m, ed for m, ver bles st ructur e) ? What i s their f uncti on? Clause st ructur e: I s t her e anyt hi ng signif icant about cl ause elements (eg f requency of objects, adverbial s, plements。 on t he other hand, the whi te whal e is i nvested wi th dif ferent meani ngs for dif fer ent crew members t hrough the handling of m at eri al s in the novel . Simi larl y, in Hemi ngway’ s A Far ewel l to Ar ms, rain, whi ch is gener al y regarded as a sym bol of l if e (especial ly i n spri ng) , and whi ch is a mil dly annoyi ng met eor ol ogical phenomenon i n t he opening chapter, i s convert ed into a sym bol of deat h thr ough the uses t o which i t is put in the wor k. 3. Symbols i n f icti on are inanim ate obj ect s Of ten sym bol s we m et in fi ct ion ar e inanim at e objects. I n Wil li am Faulker’ s “A Rose for Emi ly,” Mi s Em il y’ s invisi bl e but per cept ible wat ch ti cki ng at he end of a gol den chain not onl y i ndi cat es t he passage of t ime, but suggest s that tim e passes wit hout even bei ng not iced by t he watch’s owner. The golden chai n to which i t is at ached car r ies suggest ions of wealth and aut hor it y. Ot her t hings may also f unct ion symboli cal ly. In James Joyce’s “Araby, ” the very name of t he bazzar, Ar aby—the poetic nam e for Ar abi a—suggests magi c, r om ance, and The Arabian Night