What Is Literary Symbolism?

Literary symbolism is important, though probably not as important as English literature courses would have you believe.

I have a confession to make: I hated English at school.

For me, the pleasure of reading a novel was destroyed by then having to analyze it to within an inch of its life. And quite a lot of this analysis took the form of discussing the symbolism in the novel.

One of the books I had to study was Lord of the Flies. I loved that book for the characters and the exciting events, but I began to despise it when the teacher started talking about the literary symbolism...

• The conch symbolized authority and order.
• Piggy's glasses symbolized the ability to understand and to see clearly.
• The island symbolized the Garden of Eden.
• The pig's head symbolized evil.
• The older kids represented the ruling classes and the younger kids the workers.

I really didn't want to think about all that stuff, much less write academic essays on it!

To me, the pleasure of reading fiction was the reading itself, not the picking it to pieces afterwards. (I still feel that way.)

If I happened to absorb all of the literary symbolism and deeper layers of meaning whilst reading for enjoyment, then great - not only would I be entertained, but my understanding of the human condition would also be furthered and enhanced.

But if the understanding didn't happen at a subconscious level, it would ruin the entertainment.

A year or two after reading Lord of the Flies, I stumbled upon this dedication in a book of stories by J. D. Salinger:

"If there is an amateur reader still left in the world - or anybody who just reads and runs - I ask him or her, with untellable affection and gratitude, to split the dedication of this book four ways with my wife and children."

An "amateur reader" - that was me! English courses could take their discussions of literary symbolism and stick them.

And yet, and yet, and yet...

The fact remains that literary symbolism is important. All good novels should contain it - and that includes yours.

The trick, as this article will demonstrate, is not to allow it to become too important.

Later, once your novel is published, it will be up to the readers to take from it what they will...

• The more serious-minded readers will pick the novel apart with zeal, and quite likely find things in it that you, the writer, were not even aware that it contained.
• The "amateur" readers will absorb the literary symbolism and thematic meaning without particularly being aware of it. The novel will enrich them in some small or large way, as all good novels do, though not at the expense of their enjoyment.

But let's forget about novels for a moment and ask ourselves...

What Is Real-World Symbolism?

As always, a good starting point in these things is the dictionary. Here is the Oxford English Dictionary:

Symbolism, noun - the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities.

Which begs the question: what, precisely, is a symbol?

Symbol, noun - a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.

And so a cross, for example - or, more precisely, a crucifix - is symbolic of Christian faith. Some crucifixes, particularly those in churches, can be very elaborate, but the same abstract idea of Christian faith can by symbolized equally well by two simple lines drawn on paper.

Similarly, a black armband symbolizes grief. On a material level, it is nothing more than a piece of black fabric, but symbolically it stands for the abstract concepts of grief and loss and mourning.

Symbolism, then, is a kind of shorthand - not just in literature but in the world around us.

All road signs, for example, are symbolic. They are universally understood by motorists (even the ones who choose to ignore them) and they can get over a lot of information in a very small space.

Show a motorist a symbol of a vertical black line bending sharply to the left, for example, and they will understand that there is a sharp left turn ahead and they had better slow down if they don't want to end up wrapped around a tree.

The signs that motorists give to each other are symbolic, too...

• If a driver waves at you, they are thanking you for your consideration - for letting them pull out in front of you, perhaps.
• If you failed to let them pull out in front of you, you are liable to receive a different kind of hand gesture altogether.

Both of these hand gestures are symbolic. They allow one driver to communicate their precise feelings to the other driver, and they allow them to do this in the most concise way imaginable.

What Is Literary Symbolism?

What is the difference between symbolism in the real world and literary symbolism in a work of fiction?

Before answering that, here is an example of symbolism in a novel...

Picture the scene: a boy has just been dumped by his girlfriend and he has shut himself away in his bedroom to be by himself. He is sitting by the window with his nose an inch from the glass watching the sky turn blacker and blacker as a storm blows in. When the rain starts, he watches the water streak down the window pane.

The symbolism here is obvious...

The heavy skies symbolize the boy's heavy heart and the raindrops symbolize his tears. The boy's feelings were barely mentioned in the summary above, but the description of the weather nevertheless conveys precisely how he is feeling.

So how does that differ from a real-world symbol - a road sign, say?

On one level, they are exactly the same...

The road sign "stands for" a sharp bend in the road and the black sky "stands for" the boy's black mood.

The simplicity of the road sign is a much more concise way of warning motorists of the danger ahead than a written warning would be, just as a simple description of a storm moving in is a more concise way of describing what is going on inside the boy's broken heart.

On another level, symbols in novels are generally far more complex...

Symbols in the real world tend to be universally understood. Why? Because we have seen them all a hundred times before...

• Road signs
• Crucifixes
• Swastikas
• Politicians wearing red or blue ties

...we all know what they mean and they are in no way ambiguous.

Symbolism in literature, however, tends to be less obvious and more open to interpretation.

Even when the meaning of a literary symbol is obvious - like in my "stormy skies" example above - the symbol should not stand out as being obviously symbolic.

In other words, a reader should be able to take it as just a simple description of the weather without picking up any symbolic significance whatsoever.

If the symbolism screams "I AM A SYMBOL!" in a loud voice, you have probably been too heavy-handed.

Here is another example of symbolism in a novel, a more subtle one this time...

• It is the final scene in a novel and a man is raking leaves. This man has had to face all manner of troubles throughout the story - financial problems, an adulterous wife, a health scare - but that is all behind him now and he is moving on.
• It is a bright but windy day and the occasional gust keeps scattering the leaves that the man has raked into neat piles. Whenever this happens, the man stops and watches the blowing leaves, then patiently starts raking again once the gust has blown through.

Here, the literary symbolism is not so clear cut.

A reader could read it and fail to pick up on any hidden layers of meaning at all: the man has been to hell and back during the story, but he has survived and is now simply pushing on with his everyday life by getting some fresh air and exercise.

Other readers will notice the symbolism - maybe consciously, maybe at a more subconscious level - and (consciously or subconsciously) will attempt to draw meaning from it...

• Perhaps the symbolism is a comment on the resilience of mankind. No matter what is thrown at people, they still somehow find the strength to keep on keeping on.
• Or maybe the literary symbolism is a comment on the futility of this life. No matter how hard we might try to bring order and meaning to our lives (symbolized by the neat piles of leaves) there will always be gusts of wind waiting to blow them right away again.
• Is the sunshine a symbol of hope? Are the falling autumn leaves symbolic of death?

The answer, of course, is that good art is always open to interpretation, and in the case of a novel it is up to the reader to draw from it whatever they will.

In the sense that life itself is ambiguous with no clear-cut answers, ambiguity is good. Part of a writer's job is to raise questions, not necessarily to answer them.

Next Step: Keep reading for More on Using Literary Symbols...