SYMBOLISM - RECOGNIZING & BUILDING

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Joe G
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Joined: April 24th, 2010, 5:23 am
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Re: SYMBOLISM - RECOGNIZING & BUILDING

Post by Joe G » April 24th, 2010, 5:33 am

This is a really interesting conversation. When I read, I tend to take symbolism with a grain of salt. I'm reading Updike's "Rabbit is Rich" right now and I just read a scene where Rabbit and his wife, who have had what was in previous books a, um, strained marriage, make love on a bed filled with valuable gold pieces Rabbit purchased earlier that day.

You could go on all day about what this is supposed to mean but really, it's obvious--money (and age) has superficially injected fidelity and passion into a marriage that wasn't working, and whatever connections you want to draw from that to the late 1970s and human society in general about greed, comfort, etc...

But I guess my point is that the symbolism only really works in the context of the characters, and from Rabbit's point of view. A symbol should be something that is meaningful to the character. If it's something that is meaningful on a larger level, that's cool, but it should still ultimately be a symbol because the character has made it a symbol. Otherwise, who cares?

Two young people are making love in the grass for the first time, and the author is going on and on about budding flowers and the changing seasons... I'm hoping one of them is a horticulturist, or else the symbolism feels forced and hackneyed. Even if it's a super creative and original symbol, it's still just kind of placed in there if it doesn't relate to the character. Random symbolism may work in poetry, but prose isn't poetry.

There's a great Michael Chabon story called "The Little Knife" which is, I think, an exercise in symbolism in stories. The knife, which the little boy in the story steals, is the proverbial straw that breaks up his parent's marriage (in his eyes). Symbolism! It works on so many levels.

KellyWittmann
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Re: SYMBOLISM - RECOGNIZING & BUILDING

Post by KellyWittmann » April 24th, 2010, 2:10 pm

Let your unconscious take care of the symbolism.
I so agree, Mira! Isn't it fun to go back and read old stuff and discover symbolism your subconscious put in? Things you weren't even aware of as you were actually writing?

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