Symbolism in Literature Colors: Colors often play a role in stories. Usually they represent emotions like love, anger, or sadness. Red is a passionate color that can symbolize love, anger, or passion. Blue can mean tranquility, peace, sadness, and in some cases fear. Yellow can mean spring, like turning over a new leaf, or it can symbolize sunlight or light. Shades of greens and browns can be used for nature, peace, and to give off a sense of hospitality, unless the browns are used in images of deserts which would symbolize a’ death in nature.’ Objects, mentioned in stories, often times have a color. If the author mentions the color of an object, even something that seems unimportant, it could mean something to the narrator of the story or another character.
Water: Water can be religious, like baptism Water: Water can be religious, like baptism. It can mean purification, or it can even mean death. If the writer of the story takes time to mention an element of water look and see how it is used. Does it sound negative or positive? Does it sound peaceful or violent? Fire: Fire can represent anger, passion, love, pain or death. It is a symbol used in some cases for rebirth or new life. Think of the phoenix from mythology or even from fantasy books, fire for the phoenix is used as both a weapon and a form of rebirth when the bird bursts into flames and a baby phoenix is born from its ashes. If the story you are reading mentions fire, see how it is being used. Did a building burn down and a character learned a vital lesson? Was someone injured in a fight while using fire?
Night: Night can be used in connection to darkness and acts as a cover over the world. It can be used to represent an ‘end of the road.’ It can represent peace or tranquility. Day: Literally the opposite of night in both nature and Literature. With day comes the rising of the sun, representing new life and light. It can be the new beginning for characters or an opportunity for starting over.
Allusion in Literature Referring to a well-known story, event, person or object “The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, and the crash hit them hardest.” (To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee) This line from Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird references “the crash”, which is an allusion to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 that led to the Great Depression. Without understanding this allusion, the line would be confusing as the reader would be wondering what type of crash affected the Cunninghams so extremely.
Extended Metaphor The whole poem is a metaphor that is suggesting something else. On the following slide you will read the poem “O Captain! My Captain! By Walt Whitman” several times for understanding. With a partner or alone, discuss/identify the surface or what is happening in the poem. Can you guess what Whitman is comparing?