Symbolism in Literature

[Verbatim]

As everyone knows, symbolism is a large part of the writing process, and of the appraisal of books. I am one hundred percent sure that all of you have had to identify something symbolic in a book.

HOWEVER, have you yourself ever stopped to think, "Wow, this wounded duck represents my struggle for control over my illness." ect.?

[aeroport]

Greetings, Verbatim, and welcome!
I like your question; it reminds me of all those real-life experiences that make me think "y'know, if this happened in literature, such-and-such would be significant". Well, I can think of only one example at the moment. Over the last four years (basically, the span of my high-school career) I took up the piano, and began aspiring, rather early, to repertoire that, looking back, really was beyond my abilities. I practiced hours and hours every day, and generally could produce a rendition of a piece that sounded "like it's supposed to". People thought I was doing well, but every time this was pointed out to me it only reminded me how much I KNEW I lacked and caused me to work even harder. With nearly a fully-weighted class schedule my last two years, this began to cause extreme stress, and the piano became, in a way, a symbol of my setting attainable goals for myself. Practicing certainly didn't produce, for me, the tiresome feeling of carrying out an unpleasant task as it does for many folks (young children and the like, whose parents force them), because I really WANTED to succeed. I simply was impotent, and I was reminded of this every time I sat down to it.
So, if this is the kind of answer you were looking for, yes, I have had at least one experience with "symbolism" in real life.

[Verbatim]

however, it is rather subtle is it not?

*edit* and i totally understand where your coming from. as a student in grad school, i am under a extreme amount of stress almost constantally.

[aeroport]

I am sure there could be an infinitude of examples that I cannot think of precisely because of their subtlety. The business of the instrument, however, is more pronounced, as so much of my life went into it.

[Verbatim]

of course. because so many moods can be expressed through music. you could almost tell more through music than you can through paper and ink...

[aeroport]

of course. because so many moods can be expressed through music. you could almost tell more through music than you can through paper and ink...

I've always worried about that, when considering the business of writing in general. I really think music is about the most direct art-form, as there is no language barrier or anything (excepting opera and the like, but still), and I do not think I am the first to think this. Perhaps cultures with different systems of tonality do not quite "get it" with Western music, but it seems so natural that I cannot say.

[Bastet]

I agree with you Jamesian. Music is a more natural form of expression in my opinion. Even cultures that don't communicate through writing communicate through music.

[Bastet]

By the way, and not trying to go completely off subject, I also play piano, and I know what it gives you and what it demands from you...

[PeterL]

Symbolism in literature and elsewhere is based on analogies. People frequently use analogies to express or explain things. Whether all of those uses would be called "symbolism" is open to question. Most literature uses symbols of some sort. Writers often use flat characters to symbolize a certain condition or state of mind. Such characters are symbols of those things.

On a more general level, language is a set of symbols that are used to communicate the concept of things and ideas, but the words are not those things and ideas. Many words are used in metaphoric senses: the word "right" for correct as one example. "****" for trouble. There are many examples.

[aeroport]

By the way, and not trying to go completely off subject, I also play piano, and I know what it gives you and what it demands from you...

Isn't it awful? I could sit at that blasted wooden box of strings all day, and be rewarded with naught but frustration and back trouble! Grr...

[Shannanigan]

lol...yeah, I tried keyboard for awhile, not my thing...

start a blog, suddenly every little thing in your day is symbolic...its kind of fun :)

[optimisticnad]

i have a blog! BUT then I changed it to a website-much more better feautures and freebies. its a bit like keeping a diary, my diarieis from when i was much yonger are hillariou

[Montag]

As everyone knows, symbolism is a large part of the writing process, and of the appraisal of books. I am one hundred percent sure that all of you have had to identify something symbolic in a book.

HOWEVER, have you yourself ever stopped to think, "Wow, this wounded duck represents my struggle for control over my illness." ect.?


I am reading Kafkha's The Castle right now and I'm feeling very very very much like K. stuck in a bureaucracy that I can't maneuver. My wife got her driver's license taken away recently for a paperwork snafu and the license bureau is remarkably like the Castle. However, I'm not finished with it, maybe K. actually gets to the Castle - don't give it away!!!! Maybe K. is Kafka, maybe K. is Klamm - so much to find out - I gotta get back to my book now...