Symbolism: in Literature
Symbolism: in Literature
Symbolism: in Literature
in Literature
For example:
Peter Pan is a
symbol for eternal
childhood
Symbols are a form of archetype
and can be:
Personal = having meaning for an
individual which may or may not be
consistent with others
Cultural = having common meaning with a
societal/ethnic/cultural group
Universal = having common meaning to all
societies, centuries, ethnic, racial, or
religious groups
How might the following symbol
be personal, cultural, AND
universal?
Why Create Symbols?
You may ask why writers don’t just come right out and
say what they mean.
Symbols allow writers to suggest layers and layers of
meaning-possibilities that a simple, literal statement
could never convey.
A symbol is like a pebble cast into a pond: It sends out
ever widening ripples of meaning
In the short story Marigolds, a poor woman
has no beauty in her world except the
dazzling marigolds she plants around her
ramshackle house. The children in the story,
who are as poor as the old woman, hate the
flowers and all that they stand for, In a
moment of thoughtless hatred and violence,
one girl destroys all the bright flowers.
While the flowers are REAL flowers in the
story, we also get the sense that they
symbolize something else, something larger
than the flowers themselves…