1. Symbolism & Allegory
An Introduction

2. Symbolism
When one thing (object, character, place, etc.) represents or suggests something larger or more complex
Presentation of an abstract idea through concrete means
For example: “freedom & the American flag”

4. American Born Chinese

5. Allegory Typically a narrative with 2 levels of meaning
2nd level can have moral, political, philosophical, or religious significance
Often thinly veiled
Often uses personification
Extended metaphor
Characters can stand for ideas/abstract ideas,
or can correspond to actual history/historical figures

6. Allegory Allegories can be read: On a literal level
On a symbolic & representative level

7. Allegory Sometimes extends to fables
A short tale with a specific moral
“The Tortoise & the Hare”
Animal centered fables are called Beast Fables

10. American Born Chinese Technically the story of the Monkey King:
Both beast fable & allegory

11. Symbolism vs. Allegory
A symbol can be 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 a way that 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.

12. MK Literal Level
The Monkey King rules a magical place called Flower Fruit Mountain. He wants to attend a dinner party. He is not allowed in because he is a monkey and has no shoes. He is outraged, kills or maims the dinner guests, and then does everything he can to change his “monkey-ness.” A character named Tze-yo-Tzuh tells the monkey king to accept himself, he refuses, and is buried under a pile of rock as punishment. He is freed by a monk who wants the MK to be his disciple and who teaches him to accept his true form. They go on a journey to the west and follow a star.

13. MK Symbolic Level
The monkey king represents all people who experience rejection and/or racism and try to change themselves. His shoes represent identity—both changing and accepting it. Tze-yo-Tzuh represents a God who makes people the way they are meant to be, and Wong Lai Tsao represents a Christ figure who sacrifices himself to save the monkey king and others like him.

14. MK Lesson/Moral
Being yourself and accepting yourself is the truest form of freedom.