An intro to literary symbolism.

1. Symbolism
In Literature & Life
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2. When things represent ideas
they’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.

3. 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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4. 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.

5. Symbols can be broken
down into 4 types:
1. Universal
2. Cultural/conventional
3. Personal
4. Literary
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6. 1. 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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7. The serpent has a bad reputation
in Judeo-Christian cultures
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But in
other
cultures it
symbolizes
spiritual
energy

8. 2. Cultural/conventional Symbols
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Within a culture, things & actions become linked to certain
concepts that most everyone in that culture
understands. Young children need protection and
guidance because they can’t “read” symbols yet.
• 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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9. 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 we may mis-read what we
thought were universal symbols, only to find they are cultural.
Shaking the head left and right, for example, means no in the
United States but yes in some other places. This difference once
led me to become very lost in Istanbul. I kept asking bus drivers,
with my little Turkish, “Does this bus go to Arnavutkoy?” and
they kept saying what to them meant no – head up and down –
but which I thought meant “Yes, sure, hop on.”
For up to 20 Bonus Points, tell the story of a time
when you misunderstood a cultural symbol.
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10. A window into another world
For up to 20 Bonus Points, read a short story written by a
writer born and raised in another country. Then send an
email with some observations about that country, based on
what you saw looking through the window of the fiction.
Some Writers to choose from: Ha Jin, Gabriel Garcia
Marquez, Chinua Achebe, Nadine Gordimer, Jhumpa Lahiri,
Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Anton Chekhov.
These writers have stories in our book or ones easily found
on-line. At the back of our book, starting on page A26, is an
index of authors. Let me know if you have trouble finding a
story to read. And if you like it, you might end up using the
story in Essay #3.
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11. 3. Personal Symbols
Our lives – our personal contexts – make certain
things & actions meaningful to us:
• A sled may stand for lost winter fun to a child just
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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12. 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?
• We’ll share about personal symbols in the forum.
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13. 4. Literary Symbols
Creative writers, film makers, song writers, visual
artists all create within a cultural context. 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 to enjoy and
understand the piece more. We also deepen our
understanding of ourselves and our multi-cultural
culture.
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14. Something is probably a literary
symbol if . . .
1. It appears in prominent places – the title,
first sentence, the ending, the climax
2. Is it given detailed and poetic description
3. Keeps coming up, gathering meaning
throughout the piece
4. Seems to point to, or relate to, the piece’s
main characters and themes
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15. Is the iron in “I Stand Here Ironing”
a symbol? – Break it Down
Let’s check that using the 4 criteria on the previous slide. Tillie
Olsen’s poignant short story is found here .
1. Does the iron appear in prominent places –
a. the title? yep
b. first sentence? “I stand here ironing, and what you asked me
moves tormented back and forth with the iron” (426).
c. the ending – “Help her to know – help make it so there is cause for
her to know – that she is more than this dress on the ironing
board, helpless before the iron” (433).
d. the climax? – him, depends what we say is the climax of this low-
plot (no-plot?) story. The other is ironing the whole time she
retells the story, so probably yes.
So, strong YES
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16. 2. Is the iron given detailed and poetic description?
Well, see the passage just quoted, from the ending.
That’s poetic. Most of the story is memories retold,
so the iron doesn’t get much attention.
A Maybe on this one
3. Does the iron keep coming up, gathering
meaning throughout the piece?
If we compare the descriptions of the iron at the
start and end, meaning seems to be deeper,
stronger. The tone is heavy.
Yes
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17. 4. Does the iron seem to point to, or relate to, the piece’s main characters
and themes?
Is the iron, or the act of ironing, related to the daughter, to her mother?
Only accidentally. The mother is ironing while remember. And also she says
the question a teacher (perhaps) has asked her “moved tormented back
and forth with the iron.” She may feel pressed, oppressed, flattened, by the
memories the question brings up.
Is the iron related to any themes in the story? We find out the daughter’s
life was weighed down by so much – her father leaving, poor child care
then a group foster home, her mother working multiple jobs. Life IS like a
heavy, hot iron for her. And her mother moving the iron back and forth is
like the story she tells, recounting all the years. The theme of this story
may be hard to pin down, but thinking about the iron may get us closer.
Maybe
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18. Check a Symbol: Big Bonus Point Opp
For up to 20 Bonus Points, use the 4 criteria on Slide
#14 to discuss whether or not something is a
symbol. Some suggestions:
• The drink at the end of “Sonny’s Blues”
• The fence in Fences
• Rats in “Rat Ode”
• Rain in “All Summer in a Day”
• Any object or action, student choice
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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. Here is the
novel’s end:
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.
An iconic
symbol
from 20th
century
American
fiction

20. Essay #2 Plans
In the 2nd essay we compare and contrast 2 pieces
(one should be from weeks 6-10), with a focus on
how they use a literary element, or in the extended
option two elements. 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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21. Questions about Symbolism
to use in Essay #2
 Are there meaningful objects or actions that come up in more than one
piece (a mask, a fence, slamming a door, starting a fire)?
 Are there conventional and universal symbols that come up in more
than one piece? (A scene set at sunrise, for a new beginning, for
example.)
 What objects or actions in each piece can I break down, to give my
essay more content and depth?
 Do the authors use the 4 types of symbols differently? Which one uses
literary symbols with the most skill? Which one relies more on universal
and conventional symbols?
 Which piece did I react to most strongly? Does my reaction have
anything to do with symbols in the piece?
 What are all the ideas I can think of associated with the titles?
 Do any characters in these pieces do anything that feels like a ceremony
or ritual?
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