What Symbols Stand For A symbol is often an ordinary object event person or animal to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance Flags We use a rectangle of dyed cloth to symbolize a country ID: 702396
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Slide1
Symbolism and Allegory
Layers of MeaningSlide2
What Symbols Stand For
A
symbol
is often an ordinary object, event, person, or animal to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance.Slide3
Flags
We use a rectangle of dyed cloth to symbolize a country.Slide4
Common Sights
We use a picture of a skull and crossbones to symbolize poison or danger.
We send red roses as a symbol of love.Slide5
Where Do Symbols Come From?
Symbols can be inherited or invented
The most familiar symbols have been inherited, meaning, they have been handed down over timeSlide6
“Inherited”
For example: no one really knows who first thought of using a lion as a symbol of power, courage and domination
Once these qualities were associated with the animal, images of lions appeared on flags, banners, coats of arms and castle walls
The lion became a
public symbol
that shows up in art and literature, even today!
Can you think of some examples of how lions are used as a symbol of courage and power?Slide7
People through out history have endowed ordinary objects with meanings far beyond their simple meaning,
A crown symbolizes royalty
An olive branch symbolizes peace
Five linked rings symbolize the OlympicsSlide8
“Invented”Slide9
Invented
Writers often take a new object, character, or event and make it the embodiment of some human concern.
Some invented symbols in literature have become so widely known that they often have gained the status of public symbols.Slide10
“Invented”
Peter Pan is a symbol for eternal childhood. Slide11
Why Create Symbols?
You may ask why writers don
’
t just come right out and say what they mean.
Symbols allow writers to suggest layers and layers of meaning-possibilities that a simple, literal statement could never convey.
A symbol is like a pebble cast into a pond: It sends out ever widening ripples of meaningSlide12
You Know It!
In the short story Marigolds, a poor woman has no beauty in her world except the dazzling marigolds she plants around her ramshackle house. The children in the story, who are as poor as the old woman, hate the flowers and all that they stand for, In a moment of thoughtless hatred and violence, one girl destroys all the bright flowers. Slide13
You Know It!
While the flowers are REAL flowers in the story, we also get the sense that they symbolize something else, something larger than the flowers themselves…
What do you think the marigolds stand for?Slide14
Well…
Some readers might think they symbolize hope and beauty and that the children are so angry about their poverty that they want to destroy anything that expresses the beauty of another world.Slide15
MarigoldsOther readers will have different ideas about what the marigolds stand for, but most will agree that the marigolds work on more than just a literal level in the story. Slide16
Symbols
You may not be able to articulate fully what a certain symbol means, but you will always find that the symbol, if it s powerful and well chosen, will speak forcefully to your emotions and to your imagination.
You may also find that you will remember and think about the symbol long after you have forgotten other parts. Slide17
Allegory: Split Level Stories
An
allegory
is a story in which characters, settings and actions stand for something beyond themselves.
In some types of allegories, the characters and setting represent abstract ideas of moral qualities.
In other types, characters and situations stand for historical figures and events.Slide18
An allegory can be read on one level for its literal or straightforward meaningAnd on 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. Slide19
Some of the most famous allegories feature characters and places whose names describe what they symbolize. Slide20
In an old English play called Everyman, the main character is named Everyman (he stands for exactly what his name indicates).
One day, Everyman is summoned by Death to give an accounting of his life
Everyman asks his friends Fellowship, Beauty, Strength and Good Deeds to go with him to tell Death that he has led a good life.Slide21
Only Good Deeds stays with him until the endThe allegory in
Everyman
doesn
’
t get in the way of a very good story
In fact Everyman
written in the 1400s, is still revived in theaters today and it still gets good reviews!Slide22
What Are Some More Allegories?
Here we have a picture of a serpent (snake) and an apple.
What are some things that come to mind when you see this image?
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 stand for?Slide23
Symbolism vs. Allegory
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.Slide24
Symbols and Allegory
in stories we have read
The Most Dangerous Game:
Zaroff
: Allegory for ________________
The Necklace
:
Necklace: Symbol for ________________Slide25Slide26Slide27Slide28Slide29Slide30Slide31Slide32Slide33
Poem “The Road Not Taken”Listen to the poem
In partners, each person reads a
stanza
Summarize the poem’s ‘story’
Identify the rhyme scheme
Identify the speaker of the poem
Identify the tone of the poemSlide34
The
“
Scarlet Ibis
”
? What could it symbolize in the story?
What does the color red mean????Slide35
Introduction to SymbolismSymbolism = an ordinary object, event, person, or animal to which we have attached extraordinary meaning and significance.