【文章內容簡介】 t he characters li ken it . The huge whale, as the st or y unf ol ds, es t o imply an ampli tude of meanings: among them the forces of nature and t he whole uni verse. Lit er ar y symbol s ar e of two broad t ypes: one t ype includes those embodyi ng universal suggest ions of meaning. Flowing wat er suggests ti me and eternity, a jour ney into t he underworl d and r etur n from it is interpreted as a spi ri tual experience or a dark night of the soul, and a ki nd of redempti ve odyssey. Such symbols ar e used widel y (and someti mes unconsciously) in west er n lit er at ur e. The ot her type of symbol secures its suggesti veness not fr om qual it ies i nherent in i tsel f but from t he way in which it is used in a given wor k, in a special cont ext. Thus, i n MobyDi ck t he voyage, the l and, and the ocean are obj ects pregnant wi th meanings t hat seem al most independent of the aut hor’ s use of t hem i n the story。 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 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。 i n Er nest Hemingway’s “A Clean, Wel l Li ghted Place” is not merely a caf 233。, but an isl and of refuge f rom sleeples night, chaos, l onelines, old age, the meaninglessnes of lif e, and i mpendi ng deat h. In some novels and stor ies, some charact er s ar e symbol ic. Such characters usual ly appear briefl y and r emain slightly m ysterious. In Joseph Cornard’s Heart of Darkness, a st eamship pany that hires men to work in Congo maintains in i ts wai ting r oom t wo women who knit black wool —they symbol ize the classical Fates. Such a charact er is sen as a portr ai t rather than as a per son, at l east portr ai t like. Faul kner ’s Mi s Emi ly, t wice appears at a window of her houses “l(fā)i ke t he car ven torso of an idol i n the ni che.” Though Faul kner i nvest s her wi t h l i f e and vi gor , he al so cl ot hes her i n sym bol i c hi nt s: she seem s al m ost to t ypes of sent ence ar e used, what is thei r functi on? Sentence plexity: Do sent ences on whole have a simple or a pl ex str ucture? What i s t he aver age sentence length? Does plexity vary stri kingl y from one sentence to another? Is pl exit y mai nl y due to ( i) coordination, ( i) subordination, ( i ) juxt aposit ion of clauses or of other equi valent str uctures? I n what par ts of t he t ext does pl exit y tend t o occur ? clause t ypes: What types of clauses ar e favored—r elati ve clauses, adver bial clauses, or dif ferent types of nominal clauses? Are non fi ni te for ms monly used, and if so, of what ypes are t hey (i nf init ive, i ng f orm, ed form, ver bl ess st ruct ur e) ? What is t heir funct ion? Cl ause str ucture: Is there anything si gni ficant about clause el ements (eg fr equency of obj ects, adver bi al s, plements。 of tr ansit ve or intr ansi tive ver b const ruct ions)? Ar e ther e any unusual orderings (init ial adverbi als, fr onti ng of object or plement, etc)? Do speci al kinds of cl ause constr ucti on occur (such as t hose wi t h pr eparatory i t or there) ? Noun phr ases: Ar e they r el at ivel y si mpl e or plex? Where does t he plexity l ie ( in premodif icat ion by adject ives, nouns, etc, or in post modif icat ion by pr eposit ion by pr eposit ional phr ases, r el at ive cl auses, etc)? Verb phr ases: Are there any signi fi cant depart ur es f rom the use of the s imple past tense? For exampl e, not ice occurr ences and f uncti ons of t he present t ense, of t he progresive aspect, of the per fe ct aspect, of modal auxil iari es. other phrase t ypes: Is t here anything t o be sai d about other phr ases t ypes, such as preposit onal phrases, adver b phr ases, adject ive phr ases? Wor d cl asses: Having al ready consi dered major word classes, we may consider mi nor wor d cl asses (eg funct ional wor ds), such as preposit ions, conj unctions, pronouns, determi ners, auxi li ar ies, interj ections. Are par ti cular wor ds of these types used for part icul ar efect ( eg demonstrati ves such as this and that , negati ves such as not , nothing)? General: Not e whether any general types of grammatical const r uction are used to speci al ef ect ( eg parati ve or super lative const ructions, coordinat ive or l isting const ruct ions, parenthet ical const ruct ions, interj ections and af tert houghts as occur in causal speech). And se t o the number of lists and coor di nati ons. Figures of Speech Here we consi der the feat ur es which are foregrounded by vir tue of departi ng i n some way f rom general norms of muni cati on by means of t he l anguage code, for example, exploitati on of deviations from the l ingui sti c code. Grammat ical and l exical schemes (f