【正文】 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 wi dely even in our daily l if e. Our l anguage i tsel f i s symbol . The dail y gr eti ngs indicat e t hat the passage of muni cati on i s open. Ring is a symbol of et er ni ty. The si gn of cr oss indi cates at onement. The Bi g Ben symbolizes London, t he Gr eat Wal l China. Rit uali st ic act s are symboli c. In chur ch weddi ng t he bri de i s handed over f rom t he f at her to the groom. Holy eat ing is symbolic of muni on, baptizing cleansi ng and rebi rt h. The r ai si ng and lower ing of a nat ional flag cer tainly suggest meani ngs larger t han t he acts themselves. And f inal ly toasti ng and shaki ng hands on f or mal or informal occasions. As r hetori cal device, symbol is dif ferent f rom metaphor, whi ch i s lit er al ly f al se but fi gur at ivel y true. Unli ke al egory, which repr esent s abst ract terms l ike “l(fā) ove” or “t ruth,” symbols are per ceptible object s. In l iterature almost anythi ng—par ti cular objects, characters, set ting, and acti ons—can be symboli c if the aut hor wishes to make i t so by eit her hi nting or i nsisti ng t hat the mat er ial means more than it lit er al ly does. Symbols are suggested through special t reat ment such as imager y, repet it on, connotati ve l anguage, or other art istic devi ces. In F. Scot t Fi tzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, a huge pai r of bespectacl ed eyes st ar es acr oss a wil dnes of ash heaps fr om a bi lboar d adver ti sing the ser vi ces of an oculist. Repeat edly appear ing in t he story, t he bespectacled eyes e t o mean more t han si mpl y the availabili ty of eye examinat ion. A character i n the st or y par es it t o the eyes of God。 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 , character 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。 i ts syll ables, the nar rator tels us, “cast an Eastern enchantment over me. ” Even a locale, or a feature of physical t opogr aphy, can provi de r ich symbol ic suggestions. The caf233。 i ts syll ables, the nar rator tels us, “cast an Eastern enchantment over me. ” Even a locale, or a feature of physical t opogr aphy, can provi de r ich symbol ic suggestions. The caf233。 on the other hand, t he whit e whale is i nvested wit h di f er ent meani ngs for dif er ent cr ew members through t he handli ng of mater ials in t he novel. Simi larly, in Hemingway’s A Far ewel to Ar ms, rain, whi ch i s general y regarded as a symbol of lif e (especi al ly in spring), and which is a mil dl y annoying meteor ol ogical phenomenon i n the openi ng chapter, is conver ted into a symbol of death thr ough the uses to which it i s put i n the wor k. 3. Symbol s in f ict ion are i nanimate object s Often symbols we met in fi ct ion ar e inanimate object s. In Wi li am Faulker ’s “A Rose f or Em il y,” Mis Emi ly’s invisi bl e but percept ible watch ticking at the end of a golden chai n not only i ndicates t he pasage of t ime, but suggest t hat time pases wit hout even being noti ced by the watch’s owner. The golden chain t o whi ch i t i s at tached car ies uggesti ons of wealth and author it y. Other t hi ngs may also funct ion symbol ical ly. I n James Joyce’ s “Araby, ” the very name of the bazzar, Araby—the poetic name for Ar abia—suggests magi c, r omance, and The Arabian Nights。 in Er nest Hemingway’s “A Cl ean, Wel Lighted Pl ace” is not mer el y a caf233。 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 wi d