【正文】 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。 he hi nts t hat some sad, pasionate spir it i s brooding as it wat ches t he passi ng procesion of humanit y. Such an object is a symbol: in li terat ur e, a symbol is a thing that r efer s or suggests more t han i t s l i ter al m eaning. Ther e are qui te a l ot of symbols t hat appear i n ordi nar y li fe, f or t he use of symbol is by no m eans of li mit ed to li terat ur e and art . For i nst ance, a dove i s a sym bol of peace, the f lag i s the symbol of a countr y, and t he cr oss i s the symbol of t he Chri stian r eli gion. These are symbols adopted by a whol e societ y and ar e r ecognized by al members of such a soci et y. There ar e other kinds of sym bol s, such as f igur e 3, whi ch may be abst ract sym bol s. But symbols in li terat ur e wor ks ar e dif fer ent f rom e it her of the ot her t ypes. Gener al ly speaki ng, a l it erary symbol does not have a mon soci al accept ance, as does the f lag。 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 , character 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 field? 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 speech) ? 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。 he hi nts t hat some sad, pasionate spir it i s brooding as it wat ches t he passi ng procesion of humanit y. Such an object is a symbol: in li terat ur e, a symbol is a thing that r efer s or suggests more t han i t s l i ter al m eaning. Ther e are qui te a l ot of symbols t hat appear i n ordi nar y li fe, f or t he use of symbol is by no m eans of li mit ed to li terat ur e and art . For i nst ance, a dove i s a sym bol of peace, the f lag i s the symbol of a countr y, and t he cr oss i s the symbol of t he Chri stian r eli gion. These are symbols adopted by a whol e societ y and ar e r ecognized by al members of such a soci et y. There ar e other kinds of sym bol s, such as f igur e 3, whi ch may be abst rac t sym bol s. But symbols in li terat ur e wor ks ar e dif fer ent f rom eit her of the ot her t ypes. Gener al ly speaki ng, a l it erary symbol does not have a mon soci al accept ance, as does the f lag。 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 senses 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 de