Conventional Symbol Personal Symbol

a symbol is usually taken to mean are all symbols when they are distinguishable elements in critical analysis. From the word symbol came the concept of symbolism where one object is used to refer to something else. Even the letters a writer spells his words with form part of his symbolism in this sense: they would be isolated only in special cases, such as alliteration or dialect spellings, but we are still aware that they symbolize sounds. Criticism as a whole, in terms of this definition, would begin with, and largely consist of, the systematizing of literary symbolism. It follows that other words must be used to classify the different types of symbolism. Symbolism is used in literature to give to the literary work meaning that goes beyond what is evident to the reader. Symbolism helps in giving the piece of writing feeling and mood without the writer having to actually spell out the same. By giving certain things human like characteristics and also defining them with certain qualities, the writer can manage to give the novel another level that may refer to things that are completely alien from what is mentioned in the piece of writing A symbol, in a broadest use of term, is anything which signifies something else; in this sense, all words are symbols. As commonly used in criticism, however, symbol is applied only to a word or phrase signifying an object which itself has significance; that is, the object referred to has a range of meaning beyond itself. Some symbols are conventional and public, Klarer 1976:140 says a symbol is a thing that suggest more than its literal meaning in a literary text. He divides symbol into two kinds; they are conventional and private symbol.

2.2.1 Conventional Symbol

Conventional symbol is a symbol is easily that has an understood or widely accepted interpretation. There are some conventional symbols that are easily Universitas Sumatera Utara recognizable, for example, a flag which is a physical, tangible representation of a country. Even as children people know that the flag isn t the country, but that it stands for a country. Conventional or traditional literary symbols work in much the same way, and because they have previously agreed upon meaning, they can be used to suggest ideas more universal than the physical thing itself. Conventional symbol has meaning that recognized by a society for example: Red can symbolize blood, passion, danger, or immoral character and stars are the symbols of Moslem. The following objects have been considered as conventional symbols for centuries, some of which are reflected in religious customs, mythical story and literature. The universal symbol usually have known by many people or groups in society that when a writer puts a symbol in the story and the symbol is known as universal symbol, the groups in society and some people have same perception of the meanings of symbol when they recognize the symbol firstly.

2.2.2. Personal Symbol

Personal symbol or private symbol is a symbol that made and put by the author in a literary works as individual works. The symbol isn t known by majority of a society, it s the one that requires special or private knowledge to understand the meaning of and according in the context of specific story. The problem with private symbol is the readers do not understand much about the symbol. It is a relation between the reader and the author because The author needs to present or create a symbol using the context of literary work and the reader understand the symbol according context of text, the reader must recognize an object or things as a symbol. That s why a reader must to relate the interpretation to the total meaning. For example, in Angels and Demons novel , Dan Brown symbolizes that angels are Universitas Sumatera Utara people who involved in religion part, the priests. Meanwhile demons are some bad guys that join in Illuminati. Angels and Demons novel is about two parts that get conflict because there s something contrary between the both. It can concluded that symbol is the person , natural, man, man objects, words, phrase, setting and character which are used to represent abstract ideas and feeling. Universitas Sumatera Utara CHAPTER III METHOD OF RESEARCH

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN