【正文】 ses “l(fā) i ke t he car ven t or so of an i dol 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 symbol ism refer s to the use of symbols, or to a set of related symbols, which i s one of the devi ces t hat enri ch shor t fi ct ion and pensate f or it s bri ef nes i n space. 2. There are two broad t ypes of l it erary symbols Symbol is general y acknowl edged t o be one of t he most fr equentl y employed devi ces i n poet ry. In works of f icti on it i s no less 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 symbol s ar e automat icaly backgrounded on the r eader’ s par t. But i n some novels and stor ies, t he sym bol i sm looms so l ar ge that the r eader wil l fai l t o get a pr ehensive under standing of the wor k wi thout payi ng special at tenti on to the symbols. The Scarlet Let er by Nat hani el Hawt horne i s one of such works. The ver y ti tl e points t o a double symbol: t he scarl et l et ter A worn by Hest er conveys a m ul 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 themsel ves. Thomas Pynchon’ s V. cont inues al ong much the same l ine, t est ing an al phabetical sym bol . Anot her example i s Herman 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 meaning than the l it er al di cti onary def ini ti on of an aquati c mammal . I t also suggests mor e than t he devil , to whom some 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 nat ur e and the whol e uni verse. Li ter ar y symbols are of t wo broad t ypes : one t ype includes those embodyi ng universal suggest ions of meani ng. Fl owing wat er suggests t ime and et ernit y, a journey i nt o t he underwor ld and r etur n fr om i t is i nterpr et ed as a spi ri tual experi ence or a dark night of t he soul , and a ki nd of re dem pti ve odyssey. Such symbols ar e used wi del y ( and somet imes unconsciousl y) in wester n li ter at ure. The other t ype of symbol secures i ts suggesti venes not fr om quali ti es inherent in i tself but fr om t he way in which it i s used i n a gi ven wor k, in a speci al cont ext . Thus, in Moby Di ck the voyage, the l and, and the ocean ar e object s pregnant wi th meani ngs t hat seem alm ost independent of t he aut hor’ s use of t hem in the stor y。 it s syl lables, the nar at or 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 whale is i nvested wi th di f erent meani ngs f or dif ferent crew member s t hr ough the handl ing of mat er ial s in t he novel . Si mi larl y, i n Hemi ngway’ s A Farewel l t o Ar ms, rain, which i s gener al ly regar ded as a sym bol of li fe (especial ly i n spr ing) , and whi ch is a m il dly annoyi ng meteorol ogi cal phenom enon i n the opening chapt er, is conver ted i nto a symbol of death thr ough t he uses t o which i t is put in t he work. 3. Symbols i n f icti on are inanim ate obj ect s Oft en symbol s we meet in fi ct ion ar e inanimat e obj ect s. I n Wil iam Faul ker ’s “A Rose f or Em i l y, ” Mi ss Emil y’s i nvi sible but percept ibl e watch t icking at the end of a golden chai n not onl y indi cat es t he passage of t ime, but suggests that im e passes wit hout even bei ng not iced by t he watch’s owner. The golden chai n to which i t i s 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 name for A