I still have a few students who have a difficult time verbalizing deeper examples of symbolism. This pedagogical conundrum made me start thinking about levels of symbolic representation. If Bloom has levels of thinking, why can’t there be levels of symbolism.

I think pointing out examples of these levels may help some of the students understand how to explain them.

I realize that there is probably 982 (give or take a few) books already on this subject, but here is the list I came up with (the ones in BLUE were suggested by colleagues):

Types of Symbols

Aesthetic Symbolism- appearance of something contains symbolic qualities
Colors – Red for love
Yellow for decay or money
Green for money or jealousy
Texture- Sharpness of a thorn

Object Symbolism- an object is symbolic
The green light on Daisy’s dock serves as a beacon of hope just as with flame of the statue of Liberty.

Iconic-dealing with an icon
Cross, infinity symbol, a fist raised in the air, peace sign

Linguistic Symbolism- this involves the symbolism that innately occur in certain words. (Thanks, Candy)
NAMES- Dimsdale from The Scarlet Letter
DUPLICITY- “Put out the light, and then put out the light.” (Othello V, ii) (I know this last example is more metaphor than symbol, but they are kissing cousins)

Action/Event Symbolism- an action or event implies a subliminal symbolism
Tom’s violent/domineering personality is symbolized in the way he slams the windows in the first chapter of The Great Gatsby.
Starks will not let Janie let her hair down in public. This is symbolic of his control over her, which is fueled by his jealousy.

Cognitive Symbolism- thoughts that pop into the characters’ heads that represent internal struggle or emotional conflicts. (Thanks, Brigid)
Gatsby realizes that Daisy’s voice is full of money as he moves towards realizing that she picked Tom for reasons other than just a good option.

While looking for pictures to add to this post, I found the PDF of a list of color symbolism.

As always, please add any suggestions for this list in my comments.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 8:04 pm and is filed under By Ben, Literature, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.