【正文】 wi th r espect t o di f er ent persons (nar at or or char acter) who i s supposedly speaki ng or thinki ng the wor ds on the page? What i s t he point of view of t he stor y? Are t he f requent shi fts of poi nt vi ew? I f so, i n whose voice is the nar rator speaki ng? Chapt er Seven Sym bol What is sym bol? Sym bol, i n t he sim pl est sense, anything that stands for or r epresents something el se beyond it—usual y an i dea conventi onal ly asociated wit h i t. Object s l ike fl ags and cr osses can f uncti on symbolical ly。, 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。 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。 they point, they hi nt , or, as Henry James put it , t hey cast l ong shadows. Symbolism The term symboli sm refers to t he use of symbol s, or t o a set of related symbols, whi ch i s one of t he devices t hat enri ch shor t f icti on and pensate f or it s br iefness in space. 2. There are two broad t ypes of li terary symbol s Symbol is generaly acknowledged t o be one of t he most fr equentl y empl oyed devi ces in poetr y. I n wor ks of ficti on i t is no l ess fr equent and no l ess important. The fact i s that , when a r eader reads a work of ficti on, hi s focus is most ly cast upon the pl ot , t he character, and the language used, so that the symbols ar e automaticaly backgr ounded on the reader’ s part . But i n some novels and stories, t he symbolism l ooms so l ar ge t hat the reader wi l fail to get a pr ehensive under st andi ng of the work wit hout payi ng special at enti on t o the symbol s. The Scarlet Let er by Nat haniel Hawthor ne i s one of such works. The very t itl e points t o a doubl e symbol: the scarl et let er A worn by Hester conveys a mult iple of senses which dif er great ly f rom what it li teral y stands f or , and the wor k event ual y develops into a test and cri ti que of sym bols themselves. Thomas Pynchon’s V. cont i nues along much the same li ne, test ing an alphabet ical symbol. Another example is Herman Melvil e’ s MobyDi ck, i n whi ch t he huge whit e whale i n the ti le of t he book acquir es great er meaning than the lit er al dictionar ydef initi on of an aquati c mammal. It also suggest s mor e than t he devil , to whom some of 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。 he hints that some sad, passi onate spi rit is broodi ng as it wat ches the pasing procesion of humanit y. Such an object i s a symbol: in l iteratur e, a symbol is a thi ng t hat refers or suggests more t han it s lit er al meaning. Ther e ar e quit e a lot of symbol s t hat appear in ordinar y li fe, f or t he use of symbol is by no means of li mited to l iterature and ar t. For inst ance, a dove is a symbol of peace, t he f lag is the symbol of a count ry, and t he cross is the symbol of t he Chri st ian religion. These are symbol s adopt ed by a whole soci et y and ar e recogni zed by al l member s of such a soci et y. There are other kinds of symbols, such as f igure 3, which may be abstr act symbol s. But symbols in l iterature works ar e dif er ent fr om ei ther of t he other t ypes. Gener al ly speaking, a l it er ar y symbol does not have a mon s oci al acceptance, as does the flag。 for inst ance, the ways sentences are co