Now that you have an idea of what symbolism is and what a few of the most common literary symbols are, it’s time for the hard part—identifying the symbols within the book, play, or poem you’re reading.
Hopefully, these next few pointers will make the process easier.
1. Look at descriptions
If a character is always dressed in purple clothing and wearing a crown, these items probably symbolize the character’s power, wealth, and royal status. If the items disappear later in the story, you can see the character might have lost power and royal status.
Colors, numbers, objects, and names can all be literary symbols. And if certain descriptions of objects appear regularly throughout the text, they’re probably symbols.
2. Look for repetition
Symbols hardly ever appear just once. Think about The Sixth Sense. In that movie, whenever a ghost is about to appear or is in the scene, the color red is alu
Explanation:
Now that you have an idea of what symbolism is and what a few of the most common literary symbols are, it’s time for the hard part—identifying the symbols within the book, play, or poem you’re reading.
Hopefully, these next few pointers will make the process easier.
1. Look at descriptions
If a character is always dressed in purple clothing and wearing a crown, these items probably symbolize the character’s power, wealth, and royal status. If the items disappear later in the story, you can see the character might have lost power and royal status.
Colors, numbers, objects, and names can all be literary symbols. And if certain descriptions of objects appear regularly throughout the text, they’re probably symbols.
2. Look for repetition
Symbols hardly ever appear just once. Think about The Sixth Sense. In that movie, whenever a ghost is about to appear or is in the scene, the color red is always present. If this just happened once or twice, it probably wouldn’t mean much.
But the fact that it happens every time makes it symbolic. The same thing happens in literature. If a character only appears at night (think vampires) throughout the book, the character probably represents some evil or mystery.
Writing with confidence about any literary device can be challenging. But there are a few ways that can help.
The first thing we have to talk about is what symbolism and symbols mean.
Put simply, literary symbols are objects, actions, places, words, colors, and sometimes characters that signify something different from their original meaning. Symbolism, then, is the use of symbols within a story.
Symbols exist everywhere, even outside of literature. Think about the American flag, for instance. The 13 stripes on the flag symbolize, or represent, the original 13 colonies, while the stars represent each of the current 50 states.
Wedding ceremonies are also loaded with symbolism.
The rings represent the lasting commitment the couple vows toward one another. Some people have knot-tying, sand-pouring, or candle-lighting traditions that symbolize the way two lives are becoming one through the marriage.
It works the same way in literature. Authors may choose to make up their own unique symbols or use some more common
