【正文】 er man Mel vi le’s Moby Dick, in which the huge whi te whal e in the ti tle of the book acqui res gr eater meani ng than t he li teral di ct ionarydefini tion of an aquatic mammal . It al so suggests more than the devil, to whom some of the char acters l iken i t. The huge whal e, as t he story unfolds, es to impl y an ampl it ude of meanings: among them the for ces of nat ur e and the whol e univer se. Literary symbols are of two broad types: one type i ncludes t hose embodying uni versal suggesti ons of meani ng. Fl owi ng water suggest s t ime and eternit y, a journey i nt o t he underworl d and r et ur n fr om it is interpreted as a spiri tual experience or a dark night of the soul, and a ki nd of re dempti ve odyssey. Such symbols are used widel y (and somet imes unconsciously) in west er n lit er at ur e. The ot her type of symbol secures it s uggesti veness not fr om qualit ies i nherent i n itsel f but from t he way in which it is used in a given wor k, in a special cont ext . Thus, in Moby Di ck t he voyage, the land, and the ocean ar e object s pr egnant with meani ngs that sem almost independent of t he author ’s use of them in the st or y。 he hints t hat some sad, pasionate spi ri t i s br ooding as i t watches the passi ng processi on of humani ty. Such an obj ect i s a symbol : in li terature, a symbol is a thing that r ef er s or suggests more than its li teral meani ng. There are quite a l ot of symbols that appear i n or di nar y lif e, for the use of symbol is by no means of l imi ted to li terature and art . For instance, a dove i s a symbol of peace, the fl ag i s the symbol of a countr y, and the c ross i s t he symbol of the Christi an r el igion. These ar e symbols adopted by a whole society and are r ecognized by al members of such a society. There are other kinds of symbol s, such as f igur e 3, which may be abstract symbols. But symbol s i n lit er at ure works ar e dif ferent f rom eit her of the other t ypes. Gener al ly speaki ng, a lit er ar y symbol does not have a mon soci al aceptance, as does the fl ag。, but an i sl and of r ef uge fr om sl eples night , chaos, lonel iness, old age, the meaningl essness of l if e, and impending death. In some novels and stori es, some char acters are symboli c. Such charact er s usual y appear br iefl y and remai n sl ight ly myst er ious. In Joseph Cornar d’ s Heart of Darknes, a steamship pany t hat hi res men t o wor k in Congo maintains i n it s wait ing room two wom en who kni t black wool—they symbolize the classical Fates. Such a charac。 f or i nstance, t he ways sent ences ar e connected. Thi s is the internal ani zation of a t ext. Under context, roughly the material, ment al , personal, interact ional, social, inst ituti onal, cult ur al , and hi st or ical situation in which the discour se i s m ade, we consi der the external r el at ions of the lit er ar y text or a part of t he t ext, seing it as a discourse pr esupposing a social r el at ion between its par ti ci pants (author and r eader , characte r and charact er , character and reader, et c.) , and a sharing of knowl edge and asumpti ons by part icipants. Cohesion: Does t he t ext cont ai n l ogical or ot her links between sent ences (eg coordinating conjunct ions, l inking adver bi al s) , or does i t end to r epl y on i mpl icit connect ions of meaning? What sort of use i s made of cross reference by pr onouns (she, it, they, etc), by substi ut e forms ( do, so, etc) , or el lipsis? I s ther e any use made of el egant var iation—the avoidance of r epet it on by substi ut ion of a descr ipti ve phrase ( as “the ol d lawyer” substi ut es f or the repet it on of an earli er “Mr Jones”) ? Are meaning connections reinforced by repet it on of words and phr ases, or by repeat edly using wor ds f rom t he same semantic f ield? Context: Does the writ er addr ess the r eader dir ectl y, or t hr ough the wor ds or thought s of some f ictional character ? What li nguistic clues ( eg f ir st per son pr onouns I , me, my, mine) are t here of the addreser addressee relationship? What ati tude does t he aut hor imply t owards his/ her subject ? If a charact er ’s wor ds or thoughts ar e repr esent ed, is this done by di rect quotati on, or by some other method ( eg i ndir ect speech, f ree indi rect speech)? Are t here signi fi cant changes of style wit h respect to dif ferent per sons (nar rator or char acter) who is supposedly speaki ng or thinking the wor ds on the page? What i s the point of view of the story? Are t he f requent shi fts of point vi ew? I f so, i n whose voice is the nar rator speaking? Chapt er Seven Symbol What is sym bol? Symbol, in t he simplest sense, anything that stands for or r epresents something el se beyond it—usual y an i dea conventional ly asociated wit h it. Object s l ike fl ags and crosses can f unction symbolicaly。 he hints t hat some sad, pasionate spi ri t i s br ooding as i t watches the passi ng processi on of humani ty. Such an obj ect i s a symbol : in li terature, a symbol is a thing that r ef er s or suggests more than its li teral meani ng. There are quite a l ot of symbols that appear i n or di nar y lif e, for the use of symbol is by no means of l imi ted to li terature and art . For instance, a dove i s a symbol of peace, the fl ag i s the symbol of a countr y, and the cross i s t he symbol of the Christi an r el igion. These ar e symbols adopted by a whole society and are r ecognized by al members of such a society. There are other kinds of symbol s, such as f igur e 3, which may be abstract symbols. But symbol s i n lit er at ure works ar e dif ferent f rom eit her of the other t ypes . Gener al ly speaki ng, a lit er ar y symbol does not have a mon soci al aceptance, as does the fl ag。 and words ar e also symbols. ( P. 218. Oxf or d Conci se Di ct ionary of Literary Terms.) A symbol i s a t