【正文】 i nterpr etati ons associ at ed wit h t radit ional f igur es of speech such as m et aphor , m etonym y, synecdoche, par adox, and ir ony. I f such t ropes occur, what kind of special int erpret at ion i s involved ( for example, metaphor can be classi fi ed as per sonif ying, ani mali zing, concreti zing, synaestheti c, et c) ? Context and cohesi on Her e we t ake a look at features whi ch ar e gener al y ful ly dealt wi th i n discour se anal ysi s. Under cohesi on ways in which one part of a text is l inked to anot her are considered。 and wor ds ar e also symbols. ( P. 218. Oxfor d Concise Di ct ionary of Li ter ar y Term s. ) A sym bol i s a thi ng that suggest s more than it s li ter al m eaning. It exists wi dely even in our dail y l if e. Our l anguage itself i s sym bol . The dai ly gr et ings indicate t hat he passage of muni cati on i s open. Ring i s a sym bol of eter ni ty. The sign of cross indicates atoneme nt. The Big Ben sym bol izes London, the Gr eat Wal l China. Rit ual isti c act s are symboli c. I n chur ch wedding t he br ide i s handed over fr om t he father to the groom. Hol y eating is symbol ic of muni on, bapti zi ng cleansing and r ebi rt h. The raising and l oweri ng of a nat ional f lag cert ainly suggest meanings lar ger t han t he act s themselves. And f inal y t oasti ng and shaking hands on f or m al or inf or mal occasions. As r het ori cal device, symbol is dif f er ent f rom metaphor, which i s li ter al ly false but fi gur ati vel y tr ue. Unl ike al egor y, whi ch repr esents abst ract term s li ke “l(fā) ove” or “tr uth, ” sym bol s ar e percepti bl e objects. In l it er atur e almost anythi ng—part icular objects, character s, set ti ng, and acti ons—can be symboli c if t he aut hor wi shes t o make it so by ei ther hi nti ng or insi sting that he mater ial means m ore t han it li ter al ly does. Symbol s ar e suggested t hr ough special tr eat ment such as imagery, repeti ti on, connot at ive l anguage, or other art isti c devi ces. I n F. Scot t Fit zgeral d’ s novel The Gr eat Gat sby, a huge pair of bespectacled eyes st ar es acr oss a wil dness of ash heaps f r om a bi lboard advert ising t he ser vices of an oculi st . Repeatedly appeari ng in t he st ory, the bespectacled eyes e to mean more t han si mply t he avai labil it y of eye examinati on. A char act er i n t he st ory pares i t o t he eyes of God。 it is, rat her , a symbol the poet or the wr it er adopts f or the purpose of hi s/ her wor k, and it is t o be under stood only i n the context of that wor k. It dif f er s fr om the kind of symbol il ust rat ed by the f igure 3 because i t is concr ete and speci fi c. A poet or a wr it er uses symbols for the same r eason he/ she uses sim il es, metaphors, and images, etc: they help t o express hi s/her meani ng in a way that wil l appeal t o t he senses and t o the emot ions of the r eader. Most symbol s, i n li ter at ure and ever yday l i f e as wel l, posses a tr em endous condensi ng power. Thei r focusi ng on t he r elati onshi ps between t he visibl e (audible) and what they suggest can kindle it int o a single impact. Of cour se, i n li ter ar y wor ks, symbols, unl ike t hose in ordinar y li fe, usual y do not “st and for” any one meani ng, nor for anything absolutely def ini te。 on t he other hand, the whi te whal e is i nvested wi th dif ferent meani ngs for dif fer ent crew members t hrough the handling of m at eri al s in the novel . Simi larl y, in Hemi ngway’ s A Far ewel l to Ar ms, rain, whi ch is gener al y regarded as a sym bol of l if e (especial ly i n spri ng) , and whi ch is a mil dly annoyi ng met eor ol ogical phenomenon i n t he opening chapter, i s convert ed into a sym bol of deat h thr ough the uses t o which i t is put in the wor k. 3. Symbols i n f icti on are inanim ate obj ect s Of ten sym bol s we m et in fi ct ion ar e inanim at e objects. I n Wil li am Faulker’ s “A Rose for Emi ly,” Mi s Em il y’ s invisi bl e but per cept ible wat ch ti cki ng at he end of a gol den chain not onl y i ndi cat es t he passage of t ime, but suggest s that tim e passes wit hout even bei ng not iced by t he watch’s owner. The golden chai n to which i t is at ached car r ies suggest ions of wealth and aut hor it y. Ot her t hings may also f unct ion symboli cal ly. In James Joyce’s “Araby, ” the very name of t he bazzar, Ar aby—the poetic nam e for Ar abi a—suggests magi c, r om ance, and The Arabian Nights。 in Er nest Hemi ngway’s “A Cl ean, Wel Li ghted Place” is not merel y a caf233。 of tr ansit ive or i nt ransit ive verb constr uct ions) ? Ar e there any unusual order ings (i nit ial adverbi al s, f ront ing of object or plement, etc) ? Do speci al ki nds of clause constr uct ion occur (such as t hose wi th prepar ator y it or there) ? Noun phrases: Ar e they r el at ively si mple or plex? Wher e does the plexit y li e ( in pr em odi f i cat ion by adjecti ves, nouns, et c, or in post modi fi cat ion by pr eposit ion by pr eposit ional phr ases, r elati ve clauses, et c) ? Verb phr ases: Ar e t her e any signif icant depart ur es fr om t he use of t he si mple past tense? For exam pl e, not ice occur rences and f unct ions of the present t ense, of t he progressi ve aspect, of the perf ect aspect, of modal auxil iar ies. ot her phrase types: I s ther e anyt hi ng to be sai d about other phr ases t ypes, such as preposi ti onal phrases, adverb phr ases, adj ecti ve phrases? Wor d classes: Havi ng alr eady consi der ed major wor d classes, we may consi der mi nor word cl asses ( eg f uncti onal wor ds) , such as preposi ti ons, conj unct ions, pr onouns, deter miner s, auxi li ari es, int er jecti ons. Are par ti cul ar wor ds of these types used f or part icular ef ect ( eg dem onst rati ves such as this and t hat , negati ves such as not , not hing)? Gener al : N