【正文】 and words ar e also symbol s. ( P. 218. Oxf or d Concise Dictionar y of Lit er ar y Ter ms. ) A symbol is a thing that suggests more t han it s l it er al meaning. I t exist s widel y even i n our dai ly li fe. Our language it self is symbol. The dai ly greet ings i ndicate that he pasage of m unicat ion is open. Ri ng i s a symbol of eternity. The s ign of cross i ndicat es atonement . The Big Ben symbol izes London, the Great Wal Chi na. Ritualisti c acts are symbol ic. I n church wedding the br ide is handed over fr om the father t o the gr oom. Hol y eati ng i s symboli c of munion, bapt izing cl eansing and r ebir th. The raising and lowering of a national f lag certainly suggest meanings l ar ger than t he act s themsel ves. And fi nal y toasti ng and shaking hands on f or mal or i nf ormal occasi ons. As rhetorical devi ce, symbol is dif erent fr om met aphor , which is l iteral y false but figurati vely t rue. Unlike alegor y, which r epr esents abstr act terms li ke “l(fā)ove” or “t ruth,” symbols ar e percept ible obj ects. I n li terature almost anything—par ticular object s, charact er s, set ing, and act i ons—can be symbol ic if t he aut hor wishes to make it so by ei ther hinti ng or insi st ing that the mat er ial means more t han it li teral y does. Symbol s ar e suggest ed t hr ough special tr eatment such as i magery, r epeti ion, connot at ive language, or ot her ar tisti c devices. In F. Scott Fitzger al d’ s novel The Great Gatsby, a huge pair of bespectacled eyes stares across a wi ldnes of ash heaps f rom a bil board advert isng t he services of an oculi st . Repeatedl y appeari ng i n the stor y, the bespect acled eyes e to mean mor e than simply the avail abil ity of eye examination. A char acter in the story pares i t to the eyes of God。 for inst ance, the ways sentences are connected. This is t he i nt er nal or ganizati on of a text. Under cont ext, roughl y the mater ial , mental, per sonal, interactional , social, insti ut ional , cul tural, and histori cal sit uati on i n whi ch t he discourse is made, we consider t he ext er nal relati ons of t he l iterary t ext or a par t of t he t ext, seing it as a discourse pr esupposing a social r el at ion between its par ti ci pants (aut hor and r eader , character a nd 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 logi cal or other l inks bet wen sentences ( eg coor di nati ng conj unctions, li nking adverbials), or does it tend to reply on impli ci t connecti ons of meani ng? What sor t of use is made of cr oss r ef er ence by pronouns ( she, i t, they, etc) , by subst itute f or ms (do, so, etc), or eli psis? Is t here any use made of elegant variati on—t he avoi dance of repeti tion by substi tuti on of a descri pt ive phr ase (as “the old lawyer ” substi tutes for the r epeti tion of an ear lier “Mr Jones”)? Ar e meani ng connect ions r einf or ced by repeti tion of wor ds and phrases, or by r epeatedly usi ng words fr om the same semant ic fi el d? Cont ext: Does t he wr iter addres the reader di rect ly, or through t he words or t houghts of some fi ct ional char acter? What lingui st ic cl ues (eg fi rst person pronouns I, me, my, mi ne) ar e t her e of t he addr esseraddr essee relati onshi p? What at itude does the author i mpl y towar ds his/her subject? If a character ’s words or t houghts are r epresented, is t hi s done by direct quot at ion, or by some other method (eg indirect speech, free indirect speech)? Ar e ther e signif icant changes of st yl e wi th r espect o di f er ent persons (nar at or or char acter) who is supposedly speaki ng or thinking the wor ds on the page? What i s the point of view of t he story? Are t he f requent shi fts of point vi ew? I f so, i n whose voice is the nar rator speaki ng? Chapt er Seven Symbol What is symbol? 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。 its syl labl es, the nar at or tel s us, “cast an Eastern enchant ment over me.” Even a local e, or a f eature of physi cal topography, can pr ovide ri ch symboli c suggesti ons. The caf233。 i ts syl labl es, t he nar ator tel s us, “cast an Eastern enchantment over me.” Even a local e, or a f eature of physi cal t opography, can provide ri ch symbolic suggesti ons. The caf233。 on the ot her hand, the whi te whal e is invested with dif ferent meanings for di ferent crew member s through the handling of m ater ial s in the novel. Si mil ar ly, i n Hemi ngway’s A Farewel l t o Arms, r ai n, which is gener aly r egarded as a symbol of l if e ( especial y in spr ing) , and whi ch i s a mi ldly annoyi ng m et orological phenomenon in t he opening chapter , is convert ed i nt o a symbol of deat h through the uses to which it is put in t he work. 3. Sym bols i n fict ion are inani mat e obj ects Of ten symbols we meet i n ficti on are i nanimate obj ects. I n Wil liam Faul ker ’s “A Rose f or Emi ly,” Miss Emily’s i nvisible but percepti bl e watch ti cking at he end of a gol den chain not only indicat es the passage of ti me, but suggests that t ime passes without even being not iced by the watch’ s owner . The golden chain to which it is at ached car ries suggestions of wealt h and aut hori ty. Ot her things may also functi on sym boli cal y. In Jam es Joyce’s “Araby,” the ver y name of t he bazar , Ar aby—the poeti c name for Arabi a—suggest s magic, r om ance, and The Arabian Ni ghts。 i n Er nest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Wel l Li ght ed Place” is not merely a caf 233。 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 hi ng t hat suggest s mor e than i ts li teral meani ng. It exists widely e