Symbolism in Literature

1. Symbolism in Literature Famous Symbols – Have you read any of these?

2. The Fundamentals • Symbolism 101

3. The Scarlet Letter: • The forcible wearing of the letter 'A' by Hester Prynne to indicate that she was an adulteress and that the name of the father of her illegitimate child started with the letter A.

4. The Lord of the Flies: • The island was symbolic of our world • the way the characters dealt with the various situations was a symbol for the way many people live their lives

5. MacBeth: • William Shakespeare was a master of symbology. In this play, he uses blood to symbolize guilt and a raven to symbolize bad luck.

6. Animal Farm • entire story symbolizes communism and the evils that comes out of following the ideology • Each animal character in the book is a symbol for a key character in the Russian revolution.

7. Snow White • The poison apple: This would seem to point all the way back to the biblical reference of the apple which was offered to Eve by the serpent (evil/Satan). The evil queen offers Snow White the apple in much the same way. Snow White knows she should not be speaking to strangers, but she does it anyway and she pays for that mistake by falling under the spell.

8. The Little Mermaid • powerful metaphor for the plight of the "Sacred Feminine" over the last several thousand years of western civilization • she is an allegory to Mary Magdalene. • directors of the Disney film chose Mary Magdalene who represents the lost bride (of Jesus) and is the archetype of the "Sacred Feminine”.

9. Narnia - Aslan • the Christ-figure/Godhead of the stories. This can be seen in his creating Narnia; his dying at the hand of the Witch; his rising from the dead; and his destruction/rebuilding of the new Narnia. He evokes fear into the hearts of evil-doers, and love in the those that love him

10. The Giver • The apple

11. The Giver • The sled

12. The Giver • The Color Red

13. The Giver • Pale Eyes

14. The Giver • Front buttoned jacket

15. The Giver • The Bicycle