Is That a Symbol?

This is going to be my last post on “How to Read Literature Like a Professor” by Thomas C. Foster. For this last post, I have chosen to reflect on Chapter 12: Is That a Symbol? If you’ve graduated from high school, then you know what a symbol is. If you haven’t graduated from high school, then you should probably go do that before you read this post, but if you’re too lazy to go about all the schoolwork and exams and such, then I’ll explain; symbols are pretty self-explanatory. The bald eagle is  a symbol of our freedom as Americans and a book might simply symbolize learning and education (which you know nothing about if you haven’t graduated from high school).

The basic premise of this chapter: “if you think that it’s a symbol… than it probably is”. And the meaning of that symbol is going to differ depending on who the reader is. I thought this was a very interesting way to look at things. In past English courses that I have taken, whenever symbolism would inevitably creep its way into our reading, it always seemed like the answer to the question, “Now, what does that symbolize?” had to be similar for every student. Never before had I heard that the meaning of a symbol is based on who the reader is. Therefore, discovering symbolism in literature is an individual effort. In saying that, you shouldn’t need the help of your teacher to delve into your past experiences and personal historical knowledge to discuss what the flashing green light situated at the end of Daisy’s East Egg dock really means. There goes Foster again, making yet another terrific point. Like almost everything else that Foster has taught me through my reading of this text, his discussion on symbolism really does make all the sense in the world. However, I can also qualify what Foster says by bringing up this point: put the same book in the hands of any two readers with the same amount of historical knowledge and ask them to discuss what “the big white house on the hill” symbolizes. The chances that the two readers will give a similar discussion on symbolism are higher than if one reader was more knowledgeable than the other. For example, you (let’s say you’re a student, if you’re not already) and another student in the same grade level as you, read the same book. This book is about a neglected African-American child who is living as a slave in the late 19th century. Every evening, the child looks out his window toward the open horizon after working for hours out in the field. You could agree that the “open horizon” is indeed, a symbol. Now, what does that symbolize? There’s that question again. You know what African-Americans dealt with throughout much of the 19th century, and so does the other guy reading the book. You both know that many slaves who sought out freedom escaped through use of the Underground Railroad led by former slave Harriet Tubman. With this background knowledge, not only you and the other guy, but anyone who reads the book about the slave child could come up with the fact that the open horizon symbolizes freedom. Whether it be freedom from his owners, or freedom from being beaten and neglected every day, or freedom from slavery altogether, we go back to Foster’s words, that’s left up to the reader. Foster failed to mention this, yet I believe that his leaving it out was for an obvious reason. The way Foster talks about how no two readers could come up with the same definition of a symbol, leaves cracks for small possibilities like the one I stated in my example above.

After reading this chapter, symbolism now has a new and exciting definition to me as a critical literary scholar. Foster makes some superior points in this chapter, and I believe that he includes some rather fundamental aspects of symbolism in literature. I wouldn’t change a thing.