【正文】 aly associ ated wi th i t. Obj ect s li ke fl ags and crosses can f uncti on sym bol ical y。, but an i sl and of r ef uge f rom sl eepl ess ni ght, chaos, l oneli ness, ol d age, t he m eani ngl esnes of li f e, and im pendi ng deat h. I n som e novels and st or ies, some character s ar e s ym bol i c. Such char act er s usual l y appear bri efl y and remai n sl ight ly m yster ious. I n Joseph Cor nar d’s Heart of Darkness, a st eam shi p pany t hat hi res men t o wor k in Congo m ai ntains i n it s wait ing r oom t wo wom en who kni t black wool—they symboli ze t he clasi cal Fates. Such a char acter is seen as a por tr ait rat her t han as a per son, at l east por tr ait l ike. Faulkner’ s Miss Emi ly, twi ce apears at a wi ndow of her houses “l(fā)i ke the carven t or so of an idol in t he niche. ” Though Faul kner invest s her wit h li fe and vi gor , he al so cl othes her i n symbolic hi nts: she seems almost to t ypes of sentence are used, what is t hei r functi on? Sent ence plexit y: Do sent ences on whole have a simpl e or a pl ex str uct ur e? What is t he aver age sentence lengt h? Does pl exity var y str ikingl y fr om one sentence t o another? I s plexit y mainl y due to ( i) coordi nat ion, (i i) subor dinati on, ( i i) j uxt aposit ion of clauses or of other equi val ent str uct ures? In what part s of the text does pl exi ty t end to occur ? clause types: What t ypes of clauses are favored—r elati ve cl auses, adverbial clauses, or di f erent types of nomi nal clauses? Ar e non f init e for ms monl y used, and i f so, of what types ar e t hey ( inf ini tive, i ng f or m, ed for m, ver bles st ructur e) ? What i s their f uncti on? Clause st ructur e: I s t her e anyt hi ng signif icant about cl ause elements (eg f requency of objects, adverbial s, plements 。 i t s syll abl es, t he nar r at or t el l s us, “cast an East er n enchantm ent over m e. ” Even a l ocale, or a f eat ur e of physical topogr aphy, can provide r ich sym boli c suggest ions. The caf 233。 they point, t hey hi nt, or, as Henr y James put i t, t hey cast long shadows. Sym bol ism The t erm sym bol ism ref er s t o t he use of symbols, or to a set of rel at ed sym bol s, whi ch i s one of the devi ces t hat enri ch shor t fi ct i on and pensat e for it s bri efnes i n space. 2. There are t wo broad t ypes of l it erary sym bol s Symbol is gener al y acknowl edged t o be one of t he m ost f r equent l y em pl oyed devi ces i n poet ry. I n works of fi ct i on i t is no l es f r equent and no l es im port ant . The fact i s t hat, when a r eader r eads a wor k of fi ct i on, his f ocus i s mostl y cast upon the pl ot , t he char act er , and the l anguage used, so t hat t he sym bol s ar e automati cal l y backgrounded on t he r eader’s par t. But i n som e novels and st or ies, t he sym bol ism l oom s so l ar ge that the r eader wil l fail t o get a pr ehensive under st andi ng of t he wor k wi thout payi ng speci al at tenti on t o t he sym bol s. The Scarlet Let t er by Nat hani el Hawt hor ne i s one of such works. The ver y ti tl e poi nts t o a double sym bol: t he scarl et l et t er A worn by Hest er conveys a m ul ti ple of senses which di f er gr eat ly f r om what it li t er al l y st ands f or, and the wor k event ual ly devel ops int o a t est and cr it ique of sym bol s themsel ves. Thom as Pynchon’s V. cont i nues al ong much t he same l ine, test i ng an al phabeti cal sym bol . Anot her exampl e is Herm an Mel vi l e’ s Moby Dick, in whi ch t he huge whit e whale i n t he ti l e of t he book acquir es gr eat er m eani ng t han t he l it eral dicti onar ydefi ni ti on of an aquati c m amm al . It also suggests m or e t han t he devil , to whom som e of t he characters l i ken i t. The huge whal e, as t he st or y unf ol ds, es t o im pl y an ampli t ude of meani ngs: am ong t hem t he f or ces of nat ure and t he whol e universe. Li t er ary s ymbols ar e of t wo broad t ypes: one t ype i ncl udes t hose embodyi ng uni versal suggesti ons of m eaning. Flowi ng water suggest s ti me and eter ni t y, a j our ney i nt o the under worl d and r et urn f r om it i s i nt er pr et ed as a spi rit ual experi ence or a dark ni ght of t he soul, and a ki nd of r edem pt i ve odyssey. Such sym bols ar e used wi del y ( and someti mes unconsci ousl y) i n wester n li ter at ure. The ot her t ype of symbol secures it s suggest i venes not fr om quali ti es inherent i n i tsel f but fr om t he way i n which it i s used i n a gi ven work, in a speci al cont ext . Thus, i n Moby Di ck t he voyage, t he l and, and t he ocean ar e objects pr egnant wit h meani ngs that seem alm ost i ndependent of the aut hor’ s use of t hem i n t he st or y。 he hi nts t hat som e sad, pasi onate spir it i s brooding as it wat ches t he passi ng pr ocesi on of hum anit y. Such an object is a symbol: i n li ter at ure, a sym bol i s a t hi ng t hat ref er s or suggest s mor e than it s li t er al m eani ng. Ther e ar e qui te a l ot of sym bol s t hat appear i n or di nar y li f e, f or t he use of sym bol is by no m eans of li mi ted t o li ter at ure and art . For i nst ance, a dove is a symbol of peace, t he fl ag i s t he sym bol of a count ry, and t he cr oss is t he sym bol of t he Chr i sti an r el igi on. These ar e sym bol s adopt ed by a whole soci ety and ar e recogni zed by al l m em bers of such a soci et y. There ar e other ki nds of sym bol s, such as f i gur e 3, whi ch may be abst r act sym bol s. But sym bol s i n li ter at ur e wor ks ar e dif f er ent f r om eit her of t he ot her t ypes. General y speaki ng, a li t er ary symbol does not have a m on soci al acceptance, as does t he fl ag。 f or i nst ance, the ways sent ences are connect ed. This i s t he i nt er nal ani zat i on of a t ext . Under cont ext, r oughl y t he m at eri al , mental, personal , int