Symbols in Literature

Symbols… Allegories and Parables are symbolic ergo A symbol is the use of a concrete object to represent an abstract idea. Symbols come in two kinds: Symbols that are universal to all literature: The most familiar of these to us are the 26 letters of the alphabet. Others have been used for the same things so long that they have those meanings and all authors know them. If they are using them they are accepting the meaning or playing with it. Symbols that are unique to the work: These symbols are developed by the author for their own purposes through the significance they are given. These symbols can be a hybrid of a unique symbol added to a universal symbol.

Symbols in “The Blue Stones” Unique or universal symbol? Discuss the story with a group, what do you believe that the blue stones represent? Be ready to defend your answer by taking information and details from the story. Are their other symbols in the story? Are the blue stones a hybrid? If so what part is universal.

Round 1 10 20 30 40 50 Round 1 Colors Nature Weather The Wilderness Human Life 10 20 30 40 50

Colors – 10 points White innocence, life, light, purity, or enlightenment Next Question

Colors – 20 points Black seen as a cold and negative aspect suggesting passivity, death, ignorance, or evil; black hens are used in witchcraft as are black cats Next Question

Colors – 30 points Purple royalty, bruising or pain Next Question

Colors – 40 points Red immoral; the color of the life principle, blood, passion, emotion, danger, or daring; often associated with fire Next Question

Colors– 50 points Blue cool, calm, peaceful; an insubstantial color in the real world except as translucency, the void of heavens Next Question

Nature – 10 points Spring birth, new beginning Next Question

Nature – 20 points Water washes away guilt, origin of life, regeneration, vehicle of cleansing Next Question

Plot – 30 points Gold the perfect metal; a reflection of heavenly light; it suggest the sun-fertility, wealth, dominion; it is a male principle Next Question

Nature – 40 points Darkness evil, ignorance, danger Next Question

Nature– 50 points Weeds evil (hemlock, pigweed, etc), wildness/outcasts of society Next Question

Weather – 10 points Rain sadness or despair or new life; a symbol of celestial influences the Earth receives Next Question

Vocabulary – 20 points Fog/Mist prevents clear vision or thinking; represents isolation; mist is often the symbol of the indeterminate phase in development when shapes have yet to be defined; they are preludes to important revelations or prologues to manifestations Next Question

Weather – 30 points Thunder: the voice of God or gods Next Question

Weather – 40 points Wind and Storms violent human emotions Next Question

Weather – 50 points Rainbows: intermediaries and pathways between Heaven and Earth; mostly are generally heralds of good and are linked with cycles of rebirth, they may also serve as prologues to disturbance Next Question

Wilderness – 10 points Dove peace, purity, simplicity Next Question

Wilderness – 20 points Lion a solar symbol, power, pride Next Question

Wilderness – 30 points Owl wisdom, rational knowledge; messenger of death Next Question

Wilderness– 40 points West is the land of evening, old age, and the descending passage of the sun Next Question

Wilderness– 50 points Fox slyness, cleverness Next Question

Man – 10 points Eyes windows to the soul or barometer of emotions Next Question

Man – 20 points Mask externalize demonic tendencies Next Question

Man– 30 points Chain symbolizes the bond which connect Heaven and earth or ties together two extremes or beings Next Question

Miscellaneous – 40 points Blood symbolizes all the integral qualities of fire and the heat and vitality inherent in the sun; it also corresponds to vital and bodily heat Next Question

Miscellaneous– 50 points Tower of Babel confusion, human pride, resulted in multiple languages Next Question