Symbolism and Allegory: Signs Of Something More

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1 Page 1 of 3 Collection Menu Elements of Literature: Symbolism and Allegory Introducing the Collection Theme Through the Tunnel Informational Text The Masque of the Red Death Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening After Apple-Picking Read On Writing Workshop Listening and Speaking Workshop Skills Review ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE Symbolism and Allegory: Signs Of Something More by John Leggett Our everyday lives are full of symbols. The ring on your finger, though actually a piece of metal with a stone in it, may also be a symbol of something less concrete. For you it may symbolize love, calling to mind the special person who saved for months to buy it for you. More About Symbolism There are many symbols in our culture that we know and recognize at once. We automatically make the associations suggested by a cross, a six-pointed star, a crown, a skull and crossbones, and the Stars and Stripes. These commonly accepted symbols are public symbols. More About Allegory Skills Focus Literary Skills Understand symbolism and allegory. Symbols in Literature: Making Associations Writers of fiction, poetry, and drama create new, personal symbols in their work. Some literary symbols, like the great white whale in Moby-Dick and that stubborn spot of blood on Lady Macbeth s hand, become so widely known that eventually they too become a part of our public stockpile of symbols. In literature a symbol is something (an object, a setting, an event, an

2 Page 2 of 3 animal, or even a person) that functions in a story the way you d expect it to but also stands for something more than itself, usually something abstract. The white whale in Moby-Dick is a very real white whale in the novel, and Captain Ahab spends the whole book chasing it. Certain passages in that novel make clear to us that this whale is also associated with the mystery of evil in the world. That is how symbols work by association. Most people associate the color green with new life and, therefore, with hope. In some cultures the color white is associated with innocence and purity; in others white is a color of death. We usually associate gardens with joy and wastelands with futility and despair. We associate winter with sterility and spring with fertility. We associate cooing doves with peace and pecking ravens with death, but these are associations, not equations. A literary symbol isn t just a sign with one specific meaning. The picture of a cigarette in a circle with a diagonal line drawn through it is a sign meaning, precisely and specifically, No Smoking. The white whale, on the other hand, doesn t mean, precisely and specifically, the mystery of evil. Instead, the associations suggested by the writer, made by the characters in the story, and ultimately made by the reader evoke images of evil (and perhaps other elements), suggest aspects of the darker side of life, and hint at possible ways of seeing and thinking about the events portrayed.

3 Page 3 of 3 Symbols invite the reader to participate in making sense of the text by building on the associations and connections that the symbols suggest. Is It a Symbol? However, you must be careful not to start looking for symbols in everything you read: They won t be there. Here are some hints to pay attention to when you sense that a story is operating on a symbolic level: 1 Symbols are often visual. 2 When some event or object or setting is used as a symbol, it often reappears throughout the story. 3 A symbol in literature is a form of figurative language. Like a metaphor a symbol is something that is identified with something else that is very different from it but that shares some quality. When you are thinking about whether something is used symbolically, ask yourself this: Does this item also stand for something essentially different from itself? 4 A symbol usually has something to do with a story s theme. Back to Top Copyright by Holt, Rinehart & Winston. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use. Credits. Privacy Policy.

4 Page 1 of 2 Collection Menu Elements of Literature: Symbolism and Allegory Introducing the Collection Theme Through the Tunnel Informational Text The Masque of the Red Death Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening After Apple-Picking Read On Writing Workshop Listening and Speaking Workshop Skills Review ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE Why Use Symbols? Why do writers use symbols? Why don t they just come out and tell us directly what they want to say? One answer is that symbols have the power to move us. When they fit a human emotion just right, they stir us and last for years in our imaginations. You may well find that you remember a story s symbol long after you have forgotten other parts of the story s plot. Allegory: When Symbols Get Specific Allegories are stories in which characters and places stand for virtues and vices. Characters in an allegory might even have names that describe what they symbolize: Ignorance, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Little-Faith, Mrs. Bubble. Years ago allegories were very popular. An allegory written in the seventeenth century by John Bunyan, called The Pilgrim s Progress, was at one time second only to the Bible in popularity in the English-speaking world. The Pilgrim s Progress is about a man named Christian and his progress through the world to the Celestial City. On the way he must conquer all kinds of dangers and temptations, such as the Giant Despair, the City of Destruction, and the Valley of Humiliation. There are several types of allegory. In fables, animal characters that symbolize vices and virtues act out a story in order to teach a practical lesson about how to succeed in life. You might remember the sly fox, the slow-but-steady tortoise, the greedy crow. Another kind of allegory is the parable. A parable is a brief story that is set in the ordinary everyday world and told to teach a lesson about ethics or

5 Page 2 of 2 morality. One of the most famous parables is that of the Good Samaritan (see page 326), who stops and helps a stranger who has been robbed and beaten. Today we still call caring strangers good Samaritans. PRACTICE How many symbols can you find in public life? Try identifying what the following things stand for: 1. dove with an olive branch 2. blindfolded woman holding a pair of scales 3. yellow rose 4. yellow ribbon tied around a tree 5. dragon (dragons stand for different things in the East and the West) 6. pink ribbon in a lapel Back to T Copyright by Holt, Rinehart & Winston. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use. Credits. Privacy Policy.