Symbolism

In Literature & Life

Symbolism. ENGL 151L 1

Prep for Essay #3

In the 3rd essay, you trace a theme you see running through three or more pieces. Theme and symbolism work hand in hand; both relate to the deepest meaning of the piece. Think of Theme as the message, moral or lesson that the piece can be boiled down into. Symbols carry the theme from the writer’s to the reader’s mind. Think of them as bubbles of meaning rising up from the depths of the piece to pop on the surface.

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When things represent ideasthey’re symbols

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A mask hides our true face with a false one. That might be just plain fun on Halloween or at a costume party. In other contexts, however, it means something. As many pointed out in our discussion of the film “Identity” masking one’s face can stand for hiding true identity. So the physical thing, the mask, stands for an idea or set of ideas.

Actions can be symbolic too

Taking off that false face is important. It carries meaning: I reclaim my identity. Taking it off is a symbolic act. And a big deal in the film.

There’s a forum thread this week for discussing symbols and symbolic acts in our own lives.

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Symbols & Symbolic actions in our lives

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Getting matching tattoos is a weighty symbolic action: tattoos are permanent.

And here the tattoos themselves are symbols. They say, We fit together like lock and key. Or perhaps You open me.

Symbols can be broken down into 4 types:

Cultural/conventional

Universal

Personal

Literary

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Cultural/conventional Symbols

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Within a culture, things & actions become linked to certain concepts that most everyone in that culture understands.

• The color red = warning, danger (stop lights, fire trucks)

• Red line = not (don’t cross, don’t feed the geese)

• Doves = peace (releasing doves at opening ceremony)

• Water = purification (baptism, washing before prayer)

• Circle = wholeness, unity (wedding rings)

• The flag = love of country

(on veteran’s graves)

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Cultural Symbols are not Global

In European-American culture black has come to symbolize death and is worn at funerals. In other cultures, Asian for example, white symbolizes death and is worn at funerals.

Traveling can be disorienting because of changing symbols. Even shaking the head left and right, no in the United States, means yes in some other places. Could lead to some amusing misunderstandings!

For up to 10 Bonus Points, tell the story of a time

when you misunderstood a cultural symbol.

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Universal Symbols

Some Things and actions have the same symbolic meaning around the world because we share biology and, well, a world.

• Morning = new beginnings • Green = spring, rebirth • Candle = a light in the darkness• Lions = power • Chains = bondage

Caution. What IS universal? Darkness = danger, or safety? Red = blood/death or (in China) joy/marriage? Are snakes symbolic of evil in every culture?

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The serpent has a bad reputation in Judeo-Christian cultures

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But in other cultures it symbolizes spiritual energy

Personal Symbols

Our personal context gives meaning to things & actions:

• A sled stands for lost winter fun to a child who moved to Florida

• The smell of butterscotch means Gramma, because she always has butterscotch gum in her purse

• Geese leaving means change to one person; geese leaving, to another, means togetherness

• For some families, touching the lawn gnome before a trip means “We’ll be back.”

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Read the symbolism in your life

• Are there actions you repeat, for good luck?• Do you have recurring dreams?• Do you own things you associate with friends and family?

Items you’d hate to lose? • If your best friend moved far away forever, what would you

give him/her to remember you by?• Do you have a tattoo? What does it mean to you? What

would it mean if you had it removed? • Do you own anything that if you lost it would ruin your

day? (And not just because of the cost.) • Do certain numbers when you see them convey some

meaning to you?

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Literary SymbolsCreative writers, film makers, song writers, visual artists all create about and for people in cultural contexts. They can’t not use symbols. Even words are symbols – just marks on the page that stand for things and ideas. C A T =

As we consume culture, we absorb the symbols like a plant absorbs light. In studying literature, we look closer at symbols and symbolic actions in order to get the full meaning and enjoyment. We also deepen our understanding of ourselves and our multi-cultural culture.

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Open up to another culture

For up to 10 Bonus Points, read a short story from another country. Then send an email with some observations about that country.

Excellent writers to choose from: Ha Jin, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Chinua Achebe, Nadine Gordimer, Jhumpa Lahiri, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Anton Chekhov, Alice Munro

Some of these writers are in our text. Let me know if you have trouble finding a short story to read. And if you like, you could use the story in Essay #3.

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Something is a literary symbol if it…

• Keeps coming up• Is given detailed and poetic description • Appears in prominent places – the title, first

sentence, the ending, the climax• Suggests the theme• Is dynamic, gathering meaning throughout the

piece• Is deep, not easy to pin down, carrying more

meaning than even the writer knows – about the writer; their culture; or about human nature itself

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A Paring Knife as Symbol

In “The Paring Knife” (p. 237), the knife is in the title, the opening and the ending. It’s a real object literally in the story (not figuratively in it, as with the simile “his voice that cut like a knife”). It’s also a symbol that stands for a fight the couple had years before. When the narrator finds the knife under the refrigerator, he remembers the fight. When the woman he loves sees the knife and slides it back under the refrigerator, it’s a symbolic act. As if she has said: Let’s forget about that terrible fight we had. Or even, Let’s never fight again.

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In the novel The Great Gatsby, which many read in high school, there is a green light at the end of Gatsby’s dock. Many times he gazes out at it. It symbolizes all his dreams and hopes for the future. But at the end of the book, we realize those dreams and hopes are rooted in the past. He can never reach them. He can only gaze at the idea of them, as symbolized in the green light. It’s tragic.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

A famous literary symbol

Questions about Symbolism to consider for journal posts & Essay #3

Are there meaningful things or actions that come up in more than one piece (a fence for example or slamming a door)?

What objects or actions receive extra description? What are all the ideas I can think of associated with the title? Does the main character do anything that feels (to you or to

them) like a ceremony or ritual? Is there a moment in the piece that feels heavy with meaning?

What things or actions are part of that moment? Does this author use conventional and universal symbols? Are there conventional and universal symbols that I see

recurring over more than one piece?

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