Symbolism in Adventure

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  摘 要:Sherwood Anderson is one of the most prominent writers in American literary history. Symbolism is one of the most frequently employed techniques in short stories.This paper attempts to analyse the abundant symbolic meanings in his short story Adventure. In the story,Anderson used symbols to intensify loneliness,unarticulation and the tragic life of Alice. Symbolism makes a literary work profound.The analysis of symbols in Adventure helps us have a better understanding about this story.
  关键词:Adventure; symbolism; loneliness
  中图分类号:H31 文献标识码:A
  文章编号:1009-0118(2012)07-0307-01
  Sherwood Anderson,one of the most prominent writers in American literary history,was called a “writer’s writer”.Winesburg,Ohio,which establishes Anderson as an important writer,consists of twenty-three thematically related stories and decipts small town,Midwesttern American life from late 1800s to 1900s,the period from a rutal to an industrial society.The work explores the theme of loneliness and frustration of the grotesques.Winesburg,Ohio now is regarded as one of the finest American novels of the 20th century.
  Adventure is a short story in Winesburg,Ohio.It is about the story of Alice Hindman. Most studies on Adventure mainly focus on the reasons resulted in Alice’s grostesque or the psychological analysis of Alice as well as the theme it expresses. For example,Liang Ling claims that Alice Hindman is an explicit example,who also resembles certain facets such as loneliness and inhabited sex of the Winseburgers'' lives. [1]The reasons why Alice lives a miserable and lonely life are the influence of patriarchy and her blind cling to the so-called moral principles of puritanism. [2]Conventional sexual morality does nothing to protect women but actually contributes to their destruction.Alice Hindman’s strength of character is undermined when her love used social conventions as a nationale for abandoning her and she succumbs to the pressure to regard her spontaneous expression of love as binding.
  This paper is trying to explore Adventure from the perspective of symbolism. When we appreciate literary works,not only the literal meanings deserve our consideration,but also the symbolic meanings between lines require our elaborate analysis. Symbolism has been frequently used by writers,such as Hawthorne and Melville,to express their inner world. According to Freud,a work of literature is the external expression of the author’ s unconscious mind.The significance of a symbol lies in its combination of concrete and abstract.Symbols are varied and colorful in themselves,and in the meanwhile,they can convey particular emotions and abstract ideas of the artist and widen and deepen the implication of a literary work.A well-placed symbol makes a good story better and a great story a work of art. Through studing the symbols in Adventure,we will have a better and deeper understanding of Alice.   The family name of Alice is Hindman,which is the combination of Hind and man. Hind has a similar pronunciation with Hide which means:to put or keep somebody in a place where they can not be seen or found.The man hided behind the real life and the mental world of Alice is Ned Currie.He fails to fulfill his promise and is never seen and never comes back after he left.The life and mind of Alice are greatly influenced and confined by Ned.Living in a male-certered society and under the spiritual control of patriarchy,she considers herself as the accessory and possession of Ned.As a traditional woman,she counts her happiness totally on a man,completely loses herself in a man’s world and has no consciousness of herself.
  Her own room in upstaire symbolizes spiritual world of herself. “She knet on the floor to pray and in her prayers whispered things she wanted to say to her lover.”Dening the real world and lives within her own imgination and memory,she shuts the reality out of the door.confined in her illusory dream,she believes blindly that Ned will come back some day.Only in such private and individual space can she express her feeling effectively and freely.
  The funiture in her room is the symbole of ideal lover. “she became attached to inaminate objects and becase it was her own,can not bear to have anyone touch the furniture of her room.”Alice holds on to Ned and his promised love as an absolute truth.Only the furniture can give her the sense of security and provide her with exemption from a dangerous and threatening situation.For her,Love represents possessiveness and exclusiveness.All human wish to love and to be loved.Once Alice finds what she believes to be loved,she can''t let it go. She empathizes her love on Ned to the affection and protection of furniture.
  The last scene of Alice’s final adventure is the climax of the whole story——she was running naked in the rain,which is rich in symbols.The deserted street is the miniature of Winsburge,which reflected the spiritual bareness,loneliness and mutual isolation between its habitants like Alice.Clothes is symbol of so-called moral principles of Puritanism and the traditional restrictions.Rain is a classical symbol of fertility and regeneration.In the deserted street and rain standing naked Alice who is longing to be purged by rain and have a new reborn. She is eager for breaking free from the restritions,being loved and understood by others and communication with others. However,ironically,the man,to whom she calls in was old and deaf,and didn’t understand her .Her cries and bid for freedom turned out to be a failure.Finally,she realized that “many people in Winsburg nust live and die alone.”
  By the use of symbolism,Adventure presents vividly to us a miserable life of Alice.The inarticulation of her desire and feeling leaves us a great impression.This is not only the tragedy of Alice,but also the tragedy of the females who follow those so-called moral principles of Puritanism.Symbolism enriches the theme and descriptions of characters.
  参考文献:
  [1]梁玲.生命激情的熄灭《小镇畸人》中艾丽丝人物的分析[J].经济研究导刊,2009,(10).
  [2]孟佳莹.《小镇畸人》中的女性形象解读[J].吉林省教育学院学报,2010,(3).
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