Symbolism—Day 11

The “closing comments” I intended as wrap up for this series went from my head, replaced by new insights.

First, I think symbol could be considered as the bedrock of Sharon Hinck’s book The Secret Life of Becky Miller (see an introduction to this book posted here at A Christian Worldview of Fiction on June 1).

Each chapter opens with a dramatic scene—a fantasy or daydream the protagonist has. This imaginative action ends up symbolizing the “real” events the protagonist experiences.

For example, the first chapter opens with a fantasy of Becky fighting off ninja warriors trying to steal the family treasure which she has been assigned to guard. The chapter closes with this paragraph:

One day the master would come and ask what I did with my meager talent. I didn’t bury it. I waved it in a hundred directions like lightning-fast parries with a sword. Yet somehow none of the strokes seemed to land on my target. Or the target kept moving. And so far, the ninjas always got past and stole the treasure.

My assessment is that Hinck “tips her hand” with this paragraph, letting the reader know that the fantasies at the beginning are more than window dressing.

In any case, these scenes are excellent examples of action used as symbol.

Second, I ran across another writing book that addressed the subject: The Art & Craft of Novel Writing by Oakley Hall. The opening paragraph in the section dealing with symbols was helpful, I thought:

We are told by his biographer, Leon Howard, that it was Herman Melville’s practice to let his mind play with concrete details until they became “luminous with suggestive implications.” Until they turned into symbols, in fact, which then formed a conduit between the concrete and the abstract, the particular and the generalization.

That made sense to me. A writer includes an object in the narrative because the story demands it, but a connection to an abstract suggests itself. The author ponders the connection, explores enhancing the object, and a symbol is born.

I’d conclude, then, that, unlike theme, a symbol appropriately arises from within the story, but, of course, the author must be looking for opportunities to capitalize on their presence.