Lecture for ENGL 151L

1. Symbolism
In creative writing
& life
Style. ENGL 151L 1

2. When things represent ideas they’re symbols
Style. ENGL 151L 2
A mask hides your true face
with a false one. That might
be just for fun, on Halloween
or at a costume party say. In
other contexts, however, it
means something. As many
pointed out in our discussion
of the short film “Identity”
hiding your true face can
stand for hiding your true
identity. Living a lie. So the
physical thing, the mask,
stands for a set of ideas.

3. Actions can be symbolic too
Taking off that false face
is important. It carries
meaning: I re-claim my
identity. It’s a symbolic
act.
Have you ever
performed a symbolic
act? There’s a forum
thread for discussing
symbols and symbolic
acts in our lives.
Style. ENGL 151L 3

4. A jar of herring snacks?
Any thing or act can be a symbol if the context
(poem/story/play/life etc.) gives it meaning. In this
scene from “A & P,” the manager just confronted the
girls in bathing suits with “This isn’t a beach.”
Queenie blushes. . . . "My mother asked me to pick up
a jar of herring snacks." Her voice kind of startled me
[Sammy thinks], the way voices do when you see the
people first, coming out so flat and dumb yet kind of
tony, too, the way it ticked over "pick up" and
"snacks." All of a sudden I slid right down her voice
into her living room. Her father and the other men
were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties
and the women were in sandals picking up herring
snacks on toothpicks off a big plate and they were all
holding drinks the color of water with olives and
sprigs of mint in them.
Style. ENGL 151L 4
To the young Sammy, a
jar of herring snacks
stands for (is symbolic
of) a wealthy lifestyle.

5. Writers use re-use symbol
Once the thing is linked to the
idea – herring snacks to wealth
– the writer can use it later as a
kind of shorthand.
"We are decent," Queenie says
suddenly, her lower lip pushing,
getting sore now that she
remembers her place, a place
from which the crowd that runs
the A & P must look pretty
crummy. Fancy Herring Snacks
flashed in her … eyes.
Style. ENGL 151L 5

6. Symbols & Symbolic actions
in our lives
Style. ENGL 151L 6
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.

7. Types of symbols
Cultural/conventional
Universal
Personal
Literary
Style. ENGL 151L 7

8. Cultural/conventional Symbols
Style. ENGL 151L
Things & actions develop pre-set meanings within a
culture. Most everyone understands.
• The color red = warning, danger (stop light)
• Red line = not (don’t feed the geese)
• Doves = peace (releasing doves at opening ceremony)
• Circle = wholeness, unity (wedding rings)
• Water = purification (baptism)
• The flag = love of country
(on veteran graves)
8

9. Symbols in different cultures
In European culture the color black has come to
symbolize death and is worn at funerals. In other
cultures, Asian for example, white often symbolizes
death and is worn at funerals. Traveling can be exciting
and also disorienting because of changing symbols.
Even shaking the head left and right, which means no
to us, actually means yes in some places. Or a general I
see what you mean, I agree. Could lead to some
amusing misunderstandings!
For up to 20 Bonus Points, tell the story of a time
when you misunderstood a cultural symbol.
Style. ENGL 151L 9

10. Universal Symbols
Some Things and actions have the same symbolic
meaning around the world because we share biology
and . . . 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?
Style. ENGL 151L 10

11. The serpent gets a bad rap in
Judeo-Christian cultures
Style. ENGL 151L 11
But in
other
cultures it
symbolizes
spiritual
energy

12. Personal Symbols
Our experiences give meaning to things & actions
• A sled stands for winter fun to a child who’s 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 someone else, means
togetherness
• Always touching the lawn gnome before a trip
means “We’ll be back.”
Style. ENGL 151L 12

13. 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 was leaving 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 songs remind you of certain times and places?
• Do certain numbers when you see them convey some meaning
to you?
Style. ENGL 151L 13

14. Literary Symbols
Creative 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 and also to
better understand ourselves and our culture.
Style. ENGL 151L 14

15. Something is a literary symbol if it…
• Keeps coming up
• Is given detailed and poetic description
• Appears in prominent places – the title, first line,
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
Style. ENGL 151L 15

16. A Paring Knife as Symbol
In “The Paring Knife” (pp. 240-241), the knife is
in the title, the opening and the ending. It’s a
real object (not a metaphor). It’s also a symbol
that stands for a fight a couple had years before.
When the speaker 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 big fight we
had. Or even, Let’s never fight again.
Style. ENGL 151L 16

17. Symbolism in A Doll’s House
The last action of the play is Nora closing the
door to the house. What a symbolic act as she
ends her marriage, closing the door on that too.
Some pointed out in the forum how taking off
her tarantella costume before the confrontation
over Krogstad’s letter is important. She is
symbolically saying, I’m not playing dress up
anymore, or performing for you. Let’s get real.
Style. ENGL 151L 17

18. Style. ENGL 151L 18
In The Great Gatsby, which many read in high school, there is a green light at the end of
Gatsby’s dock. It comes to symbolize all that he’s been reaching for and dreaming of. But
because his goals and dreams grow out of the past, he’s always pulled backward.
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.