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Symbols and Allegory

• Creating layers of meaning in text.

• What are symbols, and where do they come from?

• A symbol is often an ordinary object, event, person, or animal to which extraordinary meaning and significance has been attached.

• Symbols can be inherited or invented

• The most familiar symbols have been inherited, or handed down over time.

• Why Create Symbols?

• Why don’t writers just write what they mean?

• Symbols allow writers to develop layers of meaning within a text.

• A symbol is like a pebble cast into a pond: It sends out ever widening ripples of meaning

• How do I know if it’s a symbol?

• Repeat appearance

• Seems to be connected with a character or event

• Author spend long time on description

• Certain objects are commonly used as symbols in literature – become familiar with those objects/ideas!

• Allegory

• An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.

• The characters, settings and actions stand for something beyond themselves.

• In some types of allegories, the characters and setting represent abstract ideas of moral qualities.

• ALLEGORIES are full of SYMBOLISM.

• What’s the PURPOSE?

• An allegory can be read on one level for its literal or straightforward meaning,

• And a second level for its symbolic, or allegorical, meaning.

• Allegories are often intended to teach a moral lesson or to make a comment about goodness and vice.

• What does this picture represent?

• Where does the image of the serpent (snake) and an apple come from?

• What is the message the image depicts?

• Often times, a serpent or snake is used to symbolize temptation or trouble. This allegory stems from it’s biblical reference. What does the apple symbolize?

• A symbol is a word, place, character, or object that means something beyond what it is on a literal level.

• An allegory involves using many interconnected symbols or allegorical figures in such as way that in nearly every element of the narrative has a meaning beyond the literal level, i.e., everything in the narrative is a symbol that relates to other symbols within the story.

• 1. SYMBOLISM IN LITERATURE

• 2.  A symbol can enhance a theme, idea or a character.( Symbolism is used to provide meaning to the writing beyond what is actually being described.( Symbolism is when the author uses an object or reference to add deeper meaning to a story.(What is symbolism?

• 3.  What else can be used for symbols?( Pieces of nature like the water or the sky( Objects( Colors(We have studied

• 4.  why do you think he titled it that?( Think of the Elie Wiesel’s novel Night, ( Night is often used to symbolize old age or approaching death. ( For example, morning is the start of the day, and the start of life.(Parts of the DAY can be symbolicof life..

• And finally, Winter?( Fall?( What about Summer?( What part of life would Spring represent?(5. Seasons can do the samething…

• 6. SO SYMBOLS CAN TELLUS ABOUTCHARACTERS, PLOT,IDEAS AND THEMES.But how?Let’s look at some examples of literature that usessymbols.

• What had her so upset before the storm hit?( Why do you think Dorothy was caught up in a tornado in Kansas and swept away to Oz? ( For example, a storm occurring when there is a conflict or high emotions. (7. A theme may be representedthrough symbols.

• Harry Potter also has a lot of symbolism. One clear symbol is that of a snake to represent evil. It is no coincidence that they symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent.(8.

• Edgar Allan Poem used a lot of symbols in his literature. One of his most famous poems, The Raven, had a dark, sinister bird watching over him like a dark shadow. Why do you think in the poem about loss and death did Poe use a dark raven rather than a dove?(9. The Raven….

• Have you ever seen Star Wars. Why do you think Luke SkyWalker wears white and Darth Vader wears all black? What do those colors symbolize? How do they show us more meaning about the characters?(10. Star Wars

• What about hope or having a need filled? Those work. And, what does a plant do? It grows. So the plant can also be a symbol of growth.( What might the sunlight be a symbol of as it tries to help the plant grow? ( Sunlight, yes!( What does a plant need to survive other than water? ( Another famous story of a family struggling is called Raisin in the Sun. In this story Mama has a plant which sits on the window sill.(11. Raisin in the Sun…

• All of the Whos who live in Who-ville still wake up on Christmas morning just as joyful as ever. They lift up another symbol of Christmas. Their song! It forces the Grinch to think that “Maybe Christmas…perhaps… means a little bit more”( He wanted to steal Christmas. But, he fails.( To him, this was symbolic of Christmas.( The Grinch dresses up as Santa Claus and sneaks into town to steal all of the food, presents, and even the Christmas trees in Who-ville.(12. You’re a Mean One…

• In this story, Dr. Seuss is putting emphasis on that real meaning of Christmas. When the Who’s wake up and are joyful despite the Grinch’s visit, it shows that the presents really do not matter.( Too often, children lack the understanding of the real meaning of Christmas. Everyone gets caught up in the commercial aspect of Christmas and forget the true reason for the holiday. They just want the gifts.(13. So what does that symbolism do?It teaches a moral

• There are many examples of food as symbolism in the German fairy tale Hansel and Gretel. The story begins with a lack of food. The woodcutter’s wife convinces her reluctant husband to take two children out into the woods so they will not have so many mouths to feed.(14. Symbols are used in a lot of FairyTales.

• However, they find the birds have eaten the crumbs and ruined their trail. While wandering in the woods, they come across a cottage built of gingerbread, which they begin to eat. The gingerbread house with its sugary sweetness is a false haven. In other words, they think they have found safety in food, but it is not real safety. They think it represents the wealth being the rich as opposed to the poor family’s lack of enough to go around.( Lost in the woods, the children use bread crumbs to mark their way home. So the bread is a symbol of a way home.(15.

• Food has different meanings for the characters in the story. Bread symbolizes home and comfort, which the children have lost. To the birds, bread is food and to the old witch the children are the makings of her next meal. The children triumph when the witch is tricked by Gretel and pushed into the fire.(16. So food is seen throughout the story.

• 17. The Road Not Taken

• And both that morning equally lay

• In leaves no step had trodden black.

• Oh, I marked the first for another day!

• Yet knowing how way leads on to way


• I doubted if I should ever come back.



• I shall be telling this with a sigh

• Somewhere ages and ages hence:


• Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,


• I took the one less traveled by,


• And that has made all the difference.

• -Robert Frost

•

18. Let’s look at some of the lines in this poem. Based on this line, what time of year is it? If I said that time of year represented part of your life, what part of your life would it be? The traveler is staring down a paththat split intwo. Whatcould thatrepresent?

• The path split in two could represent having to make a decision or a choice in life.( If life is broken into the seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, the fall is later in life, but not quite old age.( Yellow is a FALL color.(19. Let’s Think…

• 20. Notice…Notice the Traveler’sdescription of the twopaths.The first path helooked down until itbent in theundergrowth. Thatmeans he could seethe path a long wayuntil it turned. Thesecond was “grassyand wanted wear”.This means that theground wassmoother. Therewas grass, but youcouldn’t tell if anyonehad walked on itmuch.If it “wanted wear” itseems that no onehad been that way.He doesn’t say thatabout the first path.So, when he says hechoose the one “lesstraveled” it means hechoose the onewhere he didn’t seemany people hadwalked on it.

• Two roads diverged in a wood, andsplit and hetook the one I,
I took the one less traveledthat fewerpeople had by,
And that has made all thetraveled on.If the road is differencea path in life,it means hedidn’t followthe crowd.He choosehis ownpath. Andthat is whathas made allthedifference.(21. Frost finishes with a lesson…The roads

• 22. So you see, symbolism can develop acharacter, or as in The Road Not Taken, it candevelop a theme.

• 23. Fire and IceSome say the world will end in fire, 
Some sayin ice. 
From what Ive tasted of desire 
I holdwith those who favor fire. 
But if it had to perishtwice, 
I think I know enough of hate 
To saythat for destruction ice 
Is also great 
And wouldsuffice. -Robert Frost

• What do you think Fire could be a Ice could be a symbol of? symbol of?Why?What do they make you thinkwhen you read that poem?( What do you think (24.

• What does it meanSo dawn goes down to then that nothing goldday. can stay?Nothing gold can stay.( What part of life does spring represent?So Eden sank to grief, ( What else makes youThen leaf subsides to think it is spring?leaf. ( What do you think “first green”Her early leafs a flower; symbolizes?But only so an hour. (25. Nothing Gold Can StayNatures first green isgold, Where is the symbolism?Her hardest hue to hold.

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