Signs and Signals Symbolism

21 legal codes, legal rights and rules, and the professional administration of justice by persons who have received their legal training formally and systematically.

2.3 Symbol

A symbol is something that represents something else, either by association or by resemblance. It can be a material object or a written sign used to represent something invisible. Hornby 2000: 1318 states that “symbol is a person, an object, an event, etc. that represents a more general quality or situation.” Another explanation is stated by Encyclopedia Americana volume 26, 1998: 164, “symbol is something associated with something else that it signifies or represents.” Symbolic systems have been developed that are far more precise than language. Words used in ordinary speech have wider associations than scientific symbols. For example, the five letters that form the word “chair” represent a sound as well as a physical object. Language, consequently, is a form of symbolism that not only accepts ambiguity but in some measure employs it efficiently.

2.3.1 Signs and Signals

Signs, distinguishable from symbols mainly on the basis of simplicity, serve chiefly to identify and to direct attention to the things they designate. Many signs are designations conventionally agreed upon. But it is common to devise signs on the basis of a real or visualize analogy. Thus, for example, arrows are used to point direction, and traffic signals make use of colored lights associated 22 with danger and safety. The letters of the alphabet are signs mainly of phonetic significance, although they may be given all sorts of special association. Whereas signs are often arbitrary in character, symbols are based on a likeness. The lion represents courage because lions are said to be brave. Another example is the lily that symbolizes purity because it is white. Symbols are often based on metaphor or comparison. For example, the symbol of cherry blossom in Japan represents the professional warrior, the samurai, because it is beautiful, it blooms early, and it dies soon.

2.3.2 Symbolism

Symbolism is the systematic use of symbols to represent or allude to something. In a narrower sense, symbolism is the use of iconic figures with particular conventional meanings. Symbolism is an important element of most religions and the arts. Many cultures have complex symbolic systems which assign certain attributes to specific things, such as types of animals, plants or weather. Hornby 2000: 1318 states that “symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas especially in art and literature.” Symbolism was largely a reaction against naturalism and realism, anti- idealistic movements which attempted to capture reality in its gritty particularity, and to elevate the humble and the ordinary over the ideal. These movements came with a reaction in favor of spirituality, the imagination, and dreams. Those are the path that symbolism begins with. In literature, the movement has its roots in Les Fleurs du mal The Flowers of Evil, 1857 by Charles Baudelaire. The aesthetic was developed by Stéphane 23 Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine during the 1860s and 70s. In the 1880s, the esthetic was articulated through a series of manifestoes and attracted a generation of writers. The works of Edgar Allan Poe , which Baudelaire greatly admired and translated into French, were a significant influence and the source of many stock tropes and images. The use symbolism in literature is also to provide meaning to the writing beyond what actually is being described. The plot and action that take place in a story can be thought of as one level, while the symbolism of certain things in the writing acts on another level to enhance the story. In fiction, symbolism comes up with three effects which each effect depends on how the involved symbols are used. First symbol which emerges on an important event in the story shows the purpose of that event. Second, a symbol appeared repeatedly put our mind on some constant elements in whole story. Third, a symbol which emerges on different context will support us to point the theme Stanton, 1965: 64-65. Allegory and symbol cannot be separated as both of them are classified as tropes, or figures. Karen Bernardo states in http:fc05.deviantart.comfs19f20072573bThe_Art_of_Literary_Symbols_by_ sarjan that early in the development of the fictional narrative, symbolism was often produced through allegory, giving the literal event and its allegorical counterpart a one-to-one correspondence. She also states that allegory is undoubtedly the simplest way of fleshing out a theme, but it is also the least emotionally satisfying because it makes things a little too easy on the reader. 24

2.3.3 Type of Symbolism