Types and Contextualization of Symbolisms: Barn Burning Story by William Faulkner - Research Paper Example

? 25 June Types and Contextualization of Symbolisms: A case of Barn Burning Story by William Faulkner Symbols, according to Ivanov and Bird (24), refer to the art in literature that is regarded as unexpressed emotion or language but was suggested behind a clearly laid down text or image. Symbolism in literature refers to language as a system of sound and written symbols that imply meanings and substance to the literary work (Bloomfield 74). Among the types of literary symbolism, this paper will put emphasis on the use of the sound symbolism and tackle partly the symbolic nature of food and other symbolisms that were used in the short story by William Faulkner. The short story provided several examples pertaining to sound symbolism. According to several authors (Hinton et al.; Monaghan et al. 1152; and Nuckolls 228), sound symbolism had been considered to be arbitrary. However, when a sound unit goes beyond its linguistic function to express internal states of being, be it emotional or physical and it provides salient features of objects and activities, it can be considered as symbolic and may have implied meanings. Among the sound symbolic terms and instances in which sound symbolism was used in the story were: the use of sentences with question mark and exclamation points; frequent mention of adjectives and modifiers to stress a point; mention of source of water (spring); and mention of other sound related words such as rang, clocklike sound of a foot, glitter, chopping, hooves sounds, galloping, and the constant indication of the presence of whippoorwills. There are also other symbolisms used such as the comparison of human attitude to that of an animal (wolf); symbolic representation of the man in spectacles; and the symbolic use of food in the story. According to Hinton et al., there are several types of sound symbolism, which are the following: corporeal sound symbolism; vocative sound symbolism; imitative sound symbolism; and meta-linguistic symbolism. Corporeal sound symbolism refers to those sound languages that include an involuntary utterance in which directly reflects internal state of the body and mind. In the story, sound symbolism that suggests corporeal type is when the boy cried that his father did not burn the rug. This instance reflects the true state of the body of mind of the boy, as being confused and the heightened emotion in his desire to protect his father (Hinton et al. 345; Faulkner 8). Vocative sound symbolism refers to the instance in which the speaker aims to get the attention of someone or of a listener (Hinton et al. 345). Instances in the story that reflects this kind of symbolism were those sentences that include question marks and exclamation points. Examples are: (a) But what proofs do you have Mr. Harris? and (b) Barn Burner! (Faulkner 1-2). These sentences tend to get the attention of a listener as well as express the social relationship of the speaker and the other person. Examples of vocative sounds cited in this paper can also be considered as a form of meta-linguistic symbolism since these examples also depicts the elements of intonation patterns and aspects of linguistic structures and functions (Hinton et. Al 346). Imitative sound symbolism on the other hand refers to words or phrases representing environmental sounds. This type of symbolism, though may appeal to senses, must not be tied to emotional and physical state of the person yet it must be considered as important in interpreting meanings (Hinton et al. 345). Environmental sounds reflected in the story such as whirling, sagging steps, savage blow with the peeled willow, spring sound, rang, clocklike sound of a foot, glitter, chopping, hooves sounds, galloping, and the constant indication of presence of whippoorwills suggests imitative sound symbolism. These environmental sounds portray and make a vivid picture of the environment they are into in the context of time and space. In the mention of spring, as an example, the context of time and space was evident in such a way that it evoked the experiences of the characters of the places they live in and traveled through thus it appealed to their senses as signified by the reaction of boy to ponder on their current situation. Other forms of symbolism identified in the story were the use of food, animal characteristics, and specific personal description as symbols that are relevant to overall understanding of the meaning of the story. At the onset of the story, the reference of smelling cheese and hermetic meat in the courtroom was emphasized. It maybe normally viewed as a normal courtroom odor but analyzing its symbolic meaning it can signify that these two food smells had been the primary food choices of people within that circle, a circle higher than what the boy have. According to Classen, food is utilized in the symbolic context in such a way that it refers to social and political affiliations of a certain people or groups of people, hence it was becoming an almost status symbol (317). However, there are also other mentions of food within the story; among those were the drinking of coffee, eating divided parcels of cheese and a mention of mulberry tree along the road. In contrast to the pungent smell of cheese at the courtroom, the cheese eaten by the main characters signify lesser quality. Looking at the social context it could imply that the characters were of much lesser social status than those in the court. The event in which there is another round of coffee in the house was reflected as something that did not usually happen to the family. The mention of mulberry tree, as something free to eat was an indication that the family cannot afford to buy other kinds of fruits (Faulkner 3). The use of animal characteristics and features to represent human character such as ferocious, wolf like independence and voracious suggested intense characters that humans being morally upright and with social norms and values to adhere to cannot be considered as such. However, these characters when metaphorically used to describe human beings can be accepted. The use of specific personal description such as man in spectacles to refer to court justice and the frequent mention of stiff and black descriptors for the father suggested that the court justice and the father was distinguished and highlighted their personalities among the many other characters in the story. Also the spectacles may signify importance and intellect that is above what the other characters have. In the case of the stiff and black description for the father, this may mean that there is a considerable sense of strictness in the character of the father, and the black may mean a negative aura or mystery covering his personality and all the bad things he did. Ultimately, the barn burning actions of the father implied his desire to show his innate authority and freewill considering the situation they have (Faulkner). In summary, symbols may refer to unexpressed emotions that is laid down and made available for the reader to understand by using symbolic language. Symbolism on the other hand is the language as a system of sound and written symbols that portray meanings (Ivanov and Bird 24; Bloomfield 74). There are several types of symbolisms, among them are corporeal sound symbolism refers to those sound languages that include an involuntary utterance in which directly reflects internal state of the body and mind; vocative sound symbolism which refers to the instance in which the speaker aims to get the attention of someone; Imitative sound symbolism which refers to words or phrases representing environmental sounds and must not be tied to emotional and physical state of the person; and other forms of symbolism identified in the story is the use of food, animal characteristics, and specific personal description as symbols that is relevant to overall understanding of the meaning of the story (Hinton et al. 345). It can be noted from the above definitions and examples that sound symbolism and other types of symbolisms has a role for language learning in terms of relationships between categories and that it was a non pervasive type in natural language (Monaghan et al. 1162). It would be an honor to quote Nuckolls to end my essay: “a language without sound symbolism would be as impossible as an existence without culture.” Works Cited Bloomfield, Morton W. "Symbolism in medieval literature." Modern Philology 56.2 (1958): 73- 81. Print. Classen, Albrecht. "The Symbolic Function of Food as Iconic Representation of Culture and Spirituality in Wolfram Von Eschenbach'sParzival (Ca 1205)." Orbis Litterarum 62.4 (2007): 315. Print. Faulkner, William. Barn Burning. Ed. Peter Nicolaisen. Learning in Focus, 1979. Print. Hinton, Leanne, Nichols, Johanna and Ohala, John J. eds. Sound Symbolism. Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print. Ivanov, Vyacheslav, and Thomas E. Bird. "Symbolism." Russian Review 1 (1966): 24. JSTOR Arts & Sciences II. Web. 25 June 2013. Monaghan, Padraic, Karen Mattock and Peter Walker. "The Role of Sound Symbolism in Language Learning." Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 38.5 (2012): 1152-1164. Print. Nuckolls, Janis B. "The Case For Sound Symbolism." Annual Review of Anthropology (1999): 225. JSTOR Arts & Sciences I. Web. 25 June 2013. Print. Read More