【正文】 they point, t hey hi nt, or, as Henry James put i t, t hey cast l ong shadows. Symboli sm The t er m symbol ism r efer s to t he use of symbols, or t o a set of r elated symbols, which i s one of t he devi ces t hat enri ch shor t f ict ion and pensate f or it s bri ef ness i n space. 2. There are two broad t ypes of l it erary sym bols Symbol is gener al y acknowl edged to be one of t he most f requent ly em pl oyed devices in poet ry. In works of fi ction it is no les f r equent and no l es i mport ant . The fact i s that, when a r eader r eads a wor k of fi ction, his f ocus i s mostl y cast upon the plot , t he char act er , and the l anguage used, so t hat t he symbol s ar e automati cal ly backgrounded on t he reader’ s par t. But in some novels and stor ies, t he sym bol ism looms so lar ge that the r eader wil l fail t o get a pr ehensive under st andi ng of the wor k wi thout paying speci al at tenti on to t he symbol s. The Scarlet Let ter by Nat haniel Hawt hor ne i s one of such works. The ver y ti tl e points t o a double symbol: the scarl et l et ter A wor n by Hester conveys a mul ti ple of senses which dif f er gr eat ly f rom what it li ter al ly st ands f or , and the wor k event ual ly de vel ops into a test and cr it ique of symbol s themsel ves. Thom as Pynchon’ s V. cont inues al ong much the same l ine, t est ing an alphabet ical symbol . Anot her example i s Herm an Melvi l e’ s MobyDi ck, i n whi ch t he huge whit e whal e i n the t it le of t he book acqui res gr eat er m eaning t han the l it er al di ctionary def ini ti on of an aquati c mammal . I t also suggest s mor e than t he devil , to whom som e of the characters l iken i t. The huge whal e, as t he st ory unf ol ds, es to impl y an ampli tude of meani ngs: among them the f orces of natur e and the whol e uni ver se. Li terar y sym bol s are of t wo broad types: one t ype includes those em bodyi ng universal suggest ions of meani ng. Fl owi ng wat er suggests t im e and et ernit y, a journey i nt o t he underwor ld and r etur n fr om i t is i nterpr eted as a spi ri tual exper ience or a dar k night of t he soul , and a ki nd of redempti ve odyssey. Such symbols ar e used wi dely ( and som et imes unconsciously) in west er n l iter ature. The ot her t ype of symbol secures i ts suggesti venes not f rom qual it ies inherent in i tself but fr om t he way in which i t is used in a gi ven work, in a special cont ext . Thus, in MobyDi ck the voyage, the l and, and the ocean ar e objects pr egnant wi t h meani ngs that seem al most i ndependent of the author’ s use of t hem in the stor y。 he hints t hat some sad, pasionate spir it i s brooding as i t wat ches t he passing procesi on of humanit y. Such an object is a symbol: i n li ter at ure, a sym bol i s a thi ng that refer s or suggest s more than it s li ter al meaning. Ther e are qui te a l ot of symbols t hat appear i n ordinar y li fe, for t he use of symbol i s by no means of li mit ed to l it eratur e and ar t. For i nstance, a dove i s a symbol of peace, the f lag i s the symbol of a countr y, and the cr oss i s the symbol of t he Chri st ian r eli gi on. These ar e symbols adopt ed by a whol e soci ety and ar e recogni zed by al l members of such a societ y. There ar e other kinds of symbols, such as f igure 3, whi ch may be abst ract symbol s. But sym bol s in lit eratur e wor ks ar e dif fer ent f rom ei ther of the other types. General ly speaki ng, a l it er ary symbol does not have a m on social acceptance, as does t he fl ag。 for instance, t he ways sentences ar e connect ed. Thi s is t he inter nal or ganizati on of a text. Under cont ext , roughly t he mater ial, mental , per sonal, int er act ional, soci al, insti tuti onal , cul tural , and hi st or i cal si tuati on in whi ch the di scourse i s made, we consider the external rel at ions of the l it er ary t ext or a part of t he text, seing it as a discour se pr esupposi ng a soci al r elati on bet ween it s par ti cipant s ( aut hor and r eader, char act er and character, char act er and r eader , et c. ), and a shar ing of knowledge and asumpti ons by par ti ci pant s. Cohesi on: Does t he text contai n logical or ot her l inks between sent ences (eg coordi nat ing conjunctions, li nki ng adverbi al s), or does i t tend to reply on impl icit connecti ons of m eaning? What sort of use is made of cross ref er ence by pr onouns ( she, it , they, etc) , by substi ute f orm s (do, so, etc) , or el ipsis? I s there any use ma de of el egant var iat ion—t he avoi dance of repeti ti on by substi tuti on of a descri pti ve phr ase ( as “the old lawyer” subst it ut es for t he r epet it ion of an earl ier “Mr Jones”) ? Ar e meaning connecti ons r einf or ced by repeti ti on of wor ds and phr ases, or by r epeatedl y usi ng words f rom the same semant ic fi el d? Context: Does the wr it er addr ess t he r eader dir ect ly, or thr ough t he wor ds or t houghts of some f icti onal char act er? What l inguisti c clues (eg f ir st per son pr onouns I , m e, m y, mi ne) ar e there of t he addr eser addr esse relat ionshi p? What at ti tude does t he aut hor impl y towar ds hi s/her subject? I f a char act er’ s words or t houghts ar e represent ed, i s this done by di rect quotat ion, or by some ot her m et hod (eg i ndi rect speech, f ree i ndi rect speech) ? Ar e there si gni fi cant changes of st yl e wi th r espect to di f er ent persons (nar rator or char act er ) who i s supposedly speaking or thi nki ng the wor ds on the page? What is t he poi nt of vi ew of the stor y? Are t he fr equent shi ft s of poi nt vi ew? If so, in whose voice i s the nar ator speaking? Chapter Seven Symbol What i s sym bol ? Symbol, i n the sim plest sense, anyt hi ng that st ands f or or represent s som et hing else beyond it—usual ly an i dea convent ional y