The Ultimate Guide To Symbolism
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– Symbolism is one of those things that we often overlook as writers, mainly because no matter how we go about putting symbols before our readers, they will find symbols on their own that we didn’t necessarily plant there. However, symbols are the main way we get our messages and themes across, and it’s important to give it a chunk of your attention. Symbolism isn’t always noticed when it’s present, but when it’s not, its absence hits the reader in the face. This is a guide to understanding symbolism, using it, and understanding its value.
Symbolism is the manner in which you communicate a message through objects, characters, or events in literature. Symbols can have very universal meanings, and therefore easy to pick up on, or they can be more individual and require more critical analysis from the reader.
Common Forms Of Symbolism
Events: Symbolism can be conveyed through events that occur in your story. The example we will use for this is in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, in which the animals rising up against the cruel Mr. Jones is a mirror of the Russian Revolution against Tsar Nicholas. The animals represent the Russian citizens, and the farmer represent the Tsar. It’s that simple.
Objects: Objects are the most commonly used form of symbolism in fiction. They can represent ideas, trigger associations, and evoke emotions. An example would be a rose, which usually symbolizes love, evokes romance, and is commonly associated with romantic gestures.
Actions: Actions are another common way in which writers convey their ideas, using actions to mirror other actions, like the previous example of Animal Farm, and actions can also be used to represent ideas, like flight in literature usually represents freedom.
The idea of symbolism is often conflated with two other literary devices, which deserve their own place in your literary vocabulary, so here they are:
Allusion: an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference. For instance, an author who emphasizes the significance of an apple tree in their setting might be alluding to the story of Adam and Eve from the Bible.
Motif: A recurring subject, theme, or idea whose meaning is not immediately known. A motif would be something like love, acceptance, or kindness. Motifs are basically the blanket theme of a story, whereas symbolism leads to the specific message of a piece of literature that fits in the the overall category.
Here is a small list of common symbols you should look for in literature, especially that which is considered “classic”:
Shared Meals - These usually represent a communion of some sort.
Failed Meals - These are usually foreshadowing and suggest an unfortunate turn of events.
Rain - This can signify either drowning (loss of control), the beginning of something new, cleansing, restoration, cold, illness, suffering, birth, or spring.
Fog - This can represent mystery, ambiguity, and danger.
Christ Figures - These usually suggest religious undertones
Flight - Represents freedom
Sex scenes - pleasure, sacrifice, rebellion, supplication, domination, enlightenment, etc. Sex is usually not just about sex. It’s about revelation.
Rain, drowning, falling in water and emerging - This is usually a form of baptism in literature.
Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter - Metaphors for events occurring in characters’ lives.
Geographical movements - Reciprocal relationship between the inner thoughts/feelings of characters and the landscape they inhabit.
Deformities - the stories of the characters’ pasts
Physical blindness - other levels of blindness, such as ignorance or lack of insight/perspective.
Disease - many symbolic/metaphorical possibilities. For example, tuberculosis, which is a wasting disease.
Public v. Private Symbols
Public: Widely known and commonly associated with a universal meaning.
Private: Symbols that have a personal meaning to the author or the reader exclusively. These are not immediately known and are not picked up on by everyone who consumes a text.
How To Improve Your Interpretation
Understand the importance of these three things: pattern, memory, and symbol.
Memory: Remember what you read. It’s that symbol. Everything you read is an entry into your personal index of intertextual evidence. Everything you read builds off of something else, and vice versa.
Pattern: Use your memory of what you’ve read previously to recognize patterns in literature. For instance, a reader will see a boy who goes to the store to get a sandwich and sees his crush there with another boy, and decides to say hi, as another boring story. A more experienced reader would recognize this as a classic quest, which has 5 central elements: One quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials, and a real reason to go there.
Symbol: Everything means something, and an experienced reader will recognize how symbols in literature start to have more universal meanings the more literature you consume.
Everything Means Something
When you’re looking for symbols in literature, look to the things that stand out, that seem weird, and that don’t feel normal. Symbols are meant to stand out to the reader, even subtly. If you feel like something means more than it does at surface level, explore that gut-feeling, because you’re right. Everything has meaning in literature.
You cannot control what symbols people do and do not find in your story. Not everyone will pick up on every symbol. Not every symbol people find will be one you intended to be there. Symbolism is largely subjective, especially when it comes to private symbols. Accept what input you have and appreciate whatever your audience gets out of your story.
Like I mentioned above, symbols can appear in events, objects, and actions. Entire characters can even serve as symbols. It’s important to utilize every element you can and pack your story full of symbolism, or it will feel two-dimensional and devoid of purpose beyond entertainment.
Here’s A Bunch To Choose From
Symbolism is fun to decode and plot and plant and whatnot, but it is largely there to communicate your message to the audience. If your story is about a boy’s loss of innocence and love, your symbols, motifs, and allusions should reflect that. It’s also important to remember that there will be a thousand ways your audience can interpret your story’s message, and that’s okay. You should use your story to convey as many lessons and messages as you can, because meaning is key to a good story.
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