【正文】 ati ve language, or ot her ar tist ic devices. In F. Scott Fi tzger ald’s novel The Great Gatsby, a huge pai r of bespect acl ed eyes stares across a wi ldness of ash heaps fr om a bi l boar d adver ti si ng the servi ces of an ocul ist. Repeat edl y appear ing i n the stor y, t he bespect acl ed eyes e t o mean mor e than simpl y the avail abi li ty of eye exami nat ion. A character in the stor y par es it to the eyes of God。 he hint s that some sad, passi onat e spi ri t is br ooding as i t watches t he pasing pr ocessi on of humani ty. Such an obj ect is a sym bol : in li terat ur e, a symbol is a thing that r efer s or suggests m ore t han it s li teral meaning. Ther e ar e quit e a l ot of symbols t hat appear in or dinary li fe, for the use of sym bol i s by no means of l im it ed to l it er atur e and ar t. For instance, a dove is a symbol of peace, t he fl ag is t he sym bol of a count ry, and the cross is the sym bol of t he Chri st ian r el igi on. These ar e sym bol s adopt ed by a whole society and ar e recogni zed by al l members of such a society. There ar e other ki nds of symbols, such as f igure 3, whi ch may be abst ract symbols. But symbol s in l it er atur e works ar e dif ferent fr om ei ther of the other types. General y speaking, a l iter ar y symbol does not have a mon social aceptance, as does t he fl ag。 for i nst ance, the ways sent ences ar e connected. This i s the int ernal or gani zat ion of a t ext . Under context, r oughly the mat er ial , m ent al, per sonal, i nteracti onal , social, i nst it ut ional, cultur al, and histor ical sit uat ion in whi ch the discourse is m ade, we consi der t he ext er nal r elati ons of t he li ter ar y t ext or a pa rt of the t ext , seeing i t as a di scourse pr esupposing a social r el ation bet ween its par ti ci pant s (author and reader , char acte r and char act er, char act er and r eader, etc. ), and a shar ing of knowl edge and assum ptions by part ici pants. Cohesi on: Does the t ext cont ai n l ogi cal or other li nks bet ween sentences ( eg coor dinati ng conj uncti ons, l inking adver bials) , or does it t end t o r epl y on im plici t connect ions of meani ng? What sor t of use is made of cr oss r eference by pronouns (she, i t, they, et c), by substi tut e for ms ( do, so, et c) , or el li psi s? I s t her e any use m ade of elegant var iati on—the avoidance of r epet it ion by subst it ut ion of a descr ipt ive phrase (as “the ol d lawyer ” substi tutes f or the r epeti ti on of an ear li er “Mr Jones”)? Ar e m eaning connect ions rei nforced by r epet it ion of words and phrases, or by repeatedly using wor ds fr om t he sam e semanti c f ield? Cont ext : Does t he wri ter addres the r eader di rectl y, or t hr ough the wor ds or thought s of some f ict ional character? What li ngui st ic clues ( eg fi rst per son pr onouns I , me, m y, mine) ar e t her e of the addr eser addr esee rel at ionshi p? What ati tude does the author impl y t owar ds his/her subj ect? If a character’ s wor ds or t houghts ar e repr esented, i s thi s done by di rect quot at ion, or by some ot her method (eg i ndir ect s peech, f ree i ndi rect speech) ? Ar e there si gni fi cant changes of st yle wi th respect to di f erent per sons ( nar rat or or char act er ) who i s supposedly speaki ng or thi nki ng the wor ds on the page? What i s the poi nt of view of the stor y? Ar e t he fr equent shi ft s of poi nt vi ew? If so, in whose voice i s the nar at or speaking? Chapter Seven Symbol What i s sym bol ? Symbol, in the sim pl est sense, anythi ng that st ands f or or r epresent s somet hi ng else beyond it—usual y an i dea convent ional ly associ at ed wi th i t. Obj ect s like f lags and crosses can functi on sym bol ical y。 he hint s that some sad, passi onat e spi ri t is br ooding as i t watches t he pasing pr ocessi on of humani ty. Such an obj ect is a sym bol : in li terat ur e, a symbol is a thing that r efer s or suggests m ore t han it s li teral meaning. Ther e ar e quit e a l ot of symbols t hat appear in or dinary li fe, for the use of sym bol i s by no means of l im it ed to l it er atur e and ar t. For instance, a dove is a symbol of peace, t he fl ag is t he sym bol of a count ry, and the cross is the sym bol of t he Chri st ian r el igi on. These ar e sym bol s adopt ed by a whole society and ar e recogni zed by al l members of such a society. There ar e other ki nds of symbols, such as f igure 3, whi ch may be abst ract symbols. But symbol s in l it er atur e works ar e dif ferent fr om ei ther of the other types. General y speaking, a l iter ar y symbol does not have a mon social aceptance, as does t he fl ag。 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 s o 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