Quality
fiction requires a theme or idea that unites the work. Ideally, the theme will connect
setting, plot and characters in a significant way. It’s easier to do than you
might think.
Appeals
to the five senses can make short stories and novels memorable. This isn’t a device
that only poets should be using. With simile, the writer compares an abstract concept
with something concrete using “like” or “as” in English. “My love is like a
red, red rose”—according to Robert Burns. Of course, he might have been more direct
and used a metaphor declaring something is something else—for example: “My love
is a red, red rose.” Simile and metaphor create imagery.
A symbol is
an image that is repeated. Consider it as an association cluster presented in
many ways. For instance, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the first American symbolic novel, the author used
the “A” as a symbol in many guises to emphasize the difficulties of overcoming
the past, its institutions, and the values of family and society. The color red
appears in numerous guises throughout the novel.
Religious
writings are fraught with symbolism. Shakespeare used it effectively in his
plays as did the early Greeks. In Moby
Dick, Melville also uses symbolism in a varied manner. The great white
whale, a finite thing, becomes symbolic of numerous sociological ideas.
Melville examines the nature of good and evil through images of light and dark.
Ahab’s unyielding aloneness is emphasized by images of the heart and head.
In the
twentieth century, writers like Hemingway and Fitzgerald were masters of
symbolism. Color imagery was often used. For example, in the bullfight in The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway uses the
colors red and green to create a vivid, violent scene. The images symbolically
connect to his theme of the manly or macho code of behavior which was what
Hemingway considered most important in life.
In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald developed a
theme he had earlier used in a short story entitled “Winter Dreams,” the love
story of an American upper class girl and lower middle class young man—insider
vs. outsider. Dexter Green is a romantic and his loss of Judy Jones causes him
permanent pain because of the loss of his illusion of her more than the
physical loss. She is a symbol of romance, just as Daisy is for Gatsby. In the
novel the color green appears repeatedly and becomes a symbol for Daisy and the
worldly wealth and privilege she represents. Gatsby looks longingly at the
green light on Daisy’s dock across the water.
In Arthur
Miller’s A View from the Bridge, the
image of the Brooklyn Bridge George Washington Bridge
Contemporary
authors often use symbolism. Consider Harry
Potter’s scar—a symbol of his being the “chosen one”, as well as his ability to
overcome evil. J.K. Rowling may have chosen to use symbolism in Dumbledore
and Hagrid's names. Dan Brown wrote a thriller entitled The Lost Symbol.
In my novel Dark Moon
Rising, the moon symbolizes romance. However, the moon is also a symbol of
night and darkness, fear and hate. Since this is a paranormal novel fraught
with mystery, moon imagery and symbolism work well with the underlying theme.
In my latest mystery suspense novel, The
Inheritance, the house that the heroine has come back to her hometown to claim
as part of her inheritance develops into a symbolic representation of her past
and the peril in her present life.
Simile, metaphor and symbolism can effectively draw the
reader into a story through vivid use of sense impressions: sight, sound, touch,
smell, taste.
In
meaningful writing, simile, metaphor, and symbolism add depth and perspective
to fiction, uniting theme with plot, setting and characterization. Writers always
need to consider the big picture. What imagery will work best to imply the underlying
theme?
Your
thoughts, input and comments appreciated.
