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| Photo credit: frank95 on Flickr |
So last week one of my lovely
commenters did that thing that's entirely fantastic when they suggest a blog
topic for me to write about, which I absolutely encourage because it's more
helpful than I can even describe, especially on those mornings where I stare at
an empty Word document wondering what I could possibly write about for
tomorrow's post.
Except this time said amazing commenter asked
if I'd be willing to write about symbolism and I froze a little inside.
I put writing this post off for a bit (a whole
week, I know, I'm such a procrastinator), not because I thought symbolism was a
bad topic, but because it's such a huge, intricate topic with so many levels
and nuances. How could I possibly cover all of that in one post?
Truthfully, I can't (not in its entirety, at
least), but I'm going to try, anyway.
Let's start with a definition from dictionary.com:
Which then of course requires the definition
of a symbol (also from dictionary.com):
Now symbolism comes in many varieties and
levels, and for those of you who have ever taken (or taught) a Literature
course, you know that just about anything can be turned into a symbol, from the
color of someone's shirt, to the place a character is introduced (or killed
off), to a seemingly unimportant object, to the entire plot itself. The level
and depth of the symbols you write into your story will depend on how intricate
you'd like it to be.
While writing the first draft of the story,
many writers don't think much about symbolism because it’s tied innately with
the essence of the story, which you may or may not as a writer have quite
figured out yet in your first draft (with the exception of those writers who
are detailed pre-plotters). And it's ok not to have symbolism figured out right
away, because while it isn't absolutely 100% necessary to have symbolism in
your writing, it adds an extra depth to your story, an extra layer,
so-to-speak, that ties to the very heart of your novel.
An example of this is C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
For those of you who have read (or watched)
the book or movie and are even somewhat familiar to Christian themes, the
allegory is pretty clear: with some spoilers to those of you who haven't read
it, the sacrifice and rebirth of Aslan (the lion and king of Narnia), who
agrees to sacrifice himself in order to save Edmund (one of the main
characters), then comes back to life later in the story very clearly mirrors
the death and resurrection of Jesus in the Bible, who sacrificed Himself in
order to atone for the sins of man, then rose again three days later.
There are also various examples of symbolism in
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, one of which fellow writer tweep Susan Sipal writes about much more eloquently than I
could in her post Symbolism in Writing: Shell Cottage: A Respite
from the Storm.
While not an absolutely necessary element,
writing symbolism into your story is a fantastic way to deepen the meaning of
your novel and tie everything together. Not all of your readers will pick up on
every element of symbolism that you write into your novel, but those who do
will appreciate the nuances in your work.
Do you write symbolism into your story? What
examples can you think of from a book or movie?
21 comments:
I don't intentionally to should that be consciously write symbolism into my work, but somehow it gets there and it's awesome when it does.
I try to... Sometimes I do so without realizing it and only notice when a CP says "ooh, love the symbolism with x" and I'm like "yeah, um, thanks!" and then I whisper "ooh" to myself. But other times it's on purpose. Like in my current WIP, I already had my heroine travel back in time within an alcove of a ballroom by coincidence. I then realized it was a good metaphor for rebirth/womb, so on a rewrite, I beefed up the sense of her being in a sheltering space, etc.
Yeah, Narnia is an obvious example. It's the Bible for kids, which is probably why I don't like it. There are two things that stop me enjoying a story and heavy religious themes are one of them (the other is it being true).
Anyway, I love symbolism. If a story has good symbolism and a rich story I adore it all the more. The same goes for movies and tv shows. The visual element there make sit more fun too.
I don't think I have been particularly adept at using symbolism yet, but I throw in points here and there and there is always a reason for me doing certain things. One thing I always do is characters names. I hate naming characters. The name always sounds stupid. So, I pick a name that has a specific meaning. That way if someone says "Why did you call that character that? It's crap," I can say "Well, it has this meaning and if you think more about the story you'll see it makes sense". It's no coincidence my cat hating vampire has named himself, Ramses, for a rather extreme example.
Symbolism is definitely something I want to work on. However, isn't the fantasy and sci-fi genres especially symbolism in itself? Fighting dragons is a symbol for the struggles in life, etc.
That's pretty funny about the accidental symbolism, but I have a feeling that's more common than it might sound. Otherwise, those kind of details tend to be much more emphasized in re-writes than they are in the first draft (unless, of course, the symbolism is a huge plot point).
I think certain genres can be symbolic in themselves, but where the symbolism lies depends largely on the plot (not all fantasy novels have dragons, for example, and sometimes the characters are riding the dragons, not fighting them). Also, I think names are a great example. I'm a little surprised I forgot to mention it because out of all examples of symbolism, I've used that one the most, myself.
I think most (best) symbolism is actually accidental. :) In the sense that as you're writing the work, you should have a deep sense of your themes and that will work its way into the symbols and image systems you use for the work. Then, after the MS has been through a few rounds, you can go back and add in symbols that will deepen the imagery already there. Alexandra Sokoloff talks about this on her blog (I also recommend her book!).
It just came to mind that actually I was writing a series of short stories that was all symbolism about overcoming fear. I got distracted by a novel, but I should probably get back to that.
I love, love, love loaded, symbolic objects in fiction and also in art. People can also be symbolic, as well as a particular setting. I always have a few in my novels, and in my paintings.
Nicely done.
Glad my post served as a reminder. ^_^
Hmm, the link doesn't seem to work, but nonetheless thank you for the recommendation. I agree that a lot of symbolism can creep into our work accidentally, especially when, as you said, we have a deep sense of the themes present in our novels. Much of that symbolism then gets refined and emphasized during revisions, to really solidify it.
Just about anything can be symbolic with the right themes present in the work. I agree it can add a really great layer of depth to the work, regardless of the medium.
Thank you. :)
I love theme and symbolism. Savvy is an award winning middle grade book filled with theme and symbolism yet an integral part of the story and done so well!
I've heard of Savvy and flipped through a couple pages in the bookstore. It looked like a fun read. :)
One of my favorite books of all time is To Kill a Mockingbird, which has symbolism in the title itself. The mockingbirds represent innocence, and to kill them would be destroying innocence itself, rendering it meaningless. It goes hand in hand with the racial themes of how black people were being treated unfairly, and were even sometimes murdered despite being innocent victims. The death of Tom Robinson is even compared to in the book as “the senseless slaughter of songbirds,”. There are so many more powerful examples of symbolism in the book that further push this theme.
Thank you Ava Jae! :D I really appreciated this post. Haha it doesn't matter that it was late, and I agree it isn't a topic you can just sit down whimsically and write about. It's deep, it's the bottom layer of the meaning of a novel. I also really like the symbolism present in Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Very nice post as usual, looking forward to the next one! :)
~Author Steven
To Kill a Mockingbird is a great example (and definitely a great read). There are definitely plenty of symbols to point to in that one, most memorably some of the ones you mentioned. Thanks!
Thank you, Steven! It was a good (and challenging) prompt on something I hadn't really thought of in a while, so I'm glad you suggested it. :)
From what I understand, symbolism, like theme, is often unconscious and an after-thought. I use weather as a symbol on occasion - a storm that represents/reflects the turmoil in the story/character. I often choose names very specifically, names that have certain meanings and that convey a certain feel/tone just by the way they sound. (Sometimes the name will tell you what's coming with that character if you know what it means or where it comes from.) I also use symbolism in the title of a lot of my stories. "Dying Light" says a lot about the story that you'll understand once you've read it. The same goes for "Unreal", "River" and "Falling Snow". Once you've read them, you get it because the titles symbolize the soul of the tale.
I agree that symbolism oftentimes comes after—as I said in the post, it's not really something most people think about while first drafting (except maybe those who are really super-detailed outliners). I've also done the name thing (it can be a fun way to foreshadow or further reflect the character) and I think symbolic titles can be pretty powerful as well. :)
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