Symbolism

All authors of famous short stories want their reader to be engaged in their readings. Most authors have their own unique and different ideas brought into their text. That’s what I think symbolism means in terms of English Literature. It is creating the background for us readers. The author wants us to connect the dots in the story. When the author makes the connection, we are more engaged and interested in what else he has to write. Most symbols used in literature are objects used to represent other things or ideas. There are several ways to recognize symbolism in literature. One of common ways is the frequency an object or character is mentioned in a piece of literature. If it is mentioned often, it is probably important. (Jones) Another way in finding symbolism is used in describing an object. These are two methods that give clues that the writer wants you to infer something about a particular object. Shirley Jackson is the author of “The Lottery” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman is the author of “The Yellow Wall-Paper”, both express vital symbols in their short stories.
To better understand symbolism written in the text you want to familiarize yourself with the author’s work and style. Often times the author represents the important issue of the time in which the author lived, or has personal significance to the writer. Miss Jackson was widely known as the author of "The Lottery," a short story published in 1948 that became a classic horror tale. Shirley Jackson wrote in two styles. She could describe the delights and turmoil of ordinary domestic life; and she could, with symbolism, write a horror story in which abnormal behavior seemed ordinary. In either genre, she wrote with remarkable tautness and economy of style, and her choice of words and phrases was unerring in building a story 's mood. Of all Miss Jackson 's eerie and gruesome fantasies, "The Lottery," published in The New Yorker magazine, was the best known and most baffling to readers. The dark and