Journal of English and Literature Vol. 2(2), pp. 19-27, February 2011 Available online http://www.academicjournals.org/ijel ISSN 2141-2626 ©2011 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Symbols, metaphors and similes in literature: A case study of "Animal Farm" Elaheh Fadaee Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abbas, Iran. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 0511 881 83 44. Accepted 6 December, 2010. One of the aims of literary text is to say as much as possible as briefly as possible, means to say more in few words to achieve a maximum effectiveness. In this case, figures of speech, specifically symbol, metaphor and simile have an important role, as they include figurative meaning of words besides their literary meaning. In this article, symbols, metaphors and similes in George Orwell's ‘Animal Farm’ were studied to find out the effect of using figures of speech on the writer's style and the addressee's understanding. For this aim, these three figures of speech were founded in the novel and their types were determined according to Newmark`s (1988b), Fromilhague`s (1995) and Rokni `s (2009) classifications, respectively. Key words: Literature, symbol, metaphor, simile, figurative language, ‘Animal Farm’. INTRODUCTION Figures of speech are imaginative tools in both brave and elephant the symbol of heaviness and literature and ordinary communications used for greatness in literature. explaining speech beyond its usual usage. The Collins Another feature of figurative language is the imagery English Dictionary (2006) defined figure of speech as and metaphorical concept which FL has. For instance, "an expression such as a simile, in which words do not have their literal meaning, but are categorized as 1. FL: The sea froth is like a pearl on the shore's neck multi-word expressions that act in the text as units" (simile). (Alhasnawi, 2007: 3). 2. Non FL: The sea froth comes towards the shore The language that uses figures of speech is called (ordinary sentence). 'figurative language' and "its purpose is to serve three 3. The pearl is the symbol of luminosity and whiteness elements of clarity, forth and beauty in the language" in literature. (Tajali, 2003: 100). However, as any figure of speech has a figurative meaning, it may cause ambiguity Western Rhetoricians consider two categories of which influences the clarity. figures of speech; one is scheme, ‘meaning form’, Figurative language has some specific features which changes the ordinary pattern of words, like which make it different from nonfigurative language. hyperbole, apostrophe, ellipsis, and antithesis. The For instance, metaphor and simile usually include an phrase 'John, my best friend' is a scheme using exaggeration in their comparison as below: 'apposition'. The other is trope, literally meaning ‘to turn’, that 1. FL: John is a lion (metaphor). changes the general meaning of words, like simile, 2. Non FL: That animal is a lion (ordinary sentence). metaphor, irony, allegory, satire, symbol, paradox. 3. FL: The book is as heavy as an elephant (simile). The trope 'she is as beautiful as rose' is an instance of 4. Non FL: The box is as heavy as my suitcase simile. (ordinary sentence). There are numerous classifications of figures of Also, we can say lion is the symbol of courage and speech, as some rhetoricians have classified them 20 Int. J. English Lit. into as many as 250 separate figures. Symbol, is the one who has been thrown into the water. metaphor and simile are the most important figures of Desert: It is the symbol of freedom of soul and being speech in almost all languages. Richards (1965: 105) naked. For this reason, God selected plain/desert of said, "the two most common figures of speech are judgment for considering human deeds (Gostaniong, metaphor and simile, but there are many other less 1377: 10). common ones, like symbol". Fire: It is a symbol of purity and always great prophets, as Zoroaster, Buddha and Moses praised it. THEORETICAL SIGHT Symbols are dealt within different domains of human's life. It forms the basis of literature and has a direct Symbol relation with poetry. Symbols are used more in epic poems, allegorical poems and gnostic poems. The word symbol is derived from "'symballein, Shamisa (2004) classifies symbols into two types: meaning ‘to throw together’, from the Greek Arbitrary symbols and personal symbols. Arbitrary ‘symbolon’ and Latin ‘symbolum’, which meant token, symbols are those common and familiar ones that the sign" (Webster, 2003: 1190). reader simply can recognize their meanings, like Although the school of symbolism appeared in spring that is a symbol of youth and freshness. France in 1880, but one thousand year before Personal symbols are those fresh and new ones appearing this school, people used symbols for which the writer or the poet newly created, and expressing their feelings and thoughts about contrary to arbitrary symbols, their recognition is phenomena, life and death. "The founders of school of difficult for the reader, like Lion which is the symbol of symbolism were three great poets, Stephan Mallarme, God in Molana`s poems. Poul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud, who used symbols Another classification of symbol which is selected for expressing their thoughts" (Farshidvard, 1373: 4). for this article is stated by Rokni (2009): Symbol is defined in the online ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ as "a communication element intended to Significative: Arbitrary symbols which are common in simply represent or stand for a complex of person, each particular field of study. For instance, @ is a object, group, or idea." It is a kind of figures of speech symbol used in email addresses. used for increasing the beauty of the text and has Metaphoric: Significant symbols used for natural figurative meaning besides its literal meaning. phenomena, like lion which is a symbol of courage. Shaw (1881: 367) presents the following definition Commemorative: Symbols which add a real event to a for symbol: "(Symbol is) something used for, or memory. regarded as, representing something else. More Sacramental: Symbols used in myths and customs. specifically, a symbol is a word, phrase, or other expression having a complex of associated meanings; in this sense, a symbol is viewed as having values In studying symbols of a literary text, first we should different from those of whatever is being symbolized . search for the general concept of that symbol, as most . Many poets have used the rose as a symbol of of them have stable and fixed meaning. Also, we youth and beauty; a flag is a piece of cloth which should search for the specific concept of the symbol stands for or is a symbol of a nation". arises from the writer's thoughts. As Perrine (1974) states, "a literary symbol is A reader should be alert for symbolical meanings, something that means more than what it is. It is an and according to Perrine (1974: 214) she/he should object, a person, a situation, an action, or some other observe some cautions: item that has a literal meaning in the story, but suggests or represents other meanings as well" (211). 1. The story itself must furnish a clue that a detail is to Here are some universal symbols in literature: be taken symbolically. It means that symbolic phenomena can be identified by repetition, emphasis Tree: It is the symbol of growth and the sign of or position. immortality (Gostaniong, 1377: 10). The symbol of 2. The meaning of a literary symbol must be tree in myths has an important role. For instance, established and supported by the entire context of the "forbidden tree" of paradise or Moses talking with his story. It means that the meaning of the symbol can be interlocutor by the use of a tree are of this kind. identified inside the text, not outside it. Sea: It is the symbol of purity, innocence and 3. To be called a symbol, an item must suggest a sacredness of man (Gostaniong, 1377:10). In myths, meaning different in kind from its literal meaning. most of heroes and prophets in their childhood were 4. A symbol may have more than one meaning. overthrown into the sea to become purified and Moses Symbol differs from metaphor and simile in that it Fadaee 21 does not contain a comparison, but by virtue of hand, it is like simile, with one of the parts (topic, association represents something more than itself. For image or sense) being implicit; on the other hand, it is example, if the cross symbolizes Christianity, its like metonymy, as it takes away the reader from the symbolic meaning does not arise from a comparison. reality and makes him closer to the figurative world. Metaphors have been categorized in different ways by different linguists. Aristotle differentiated between Metaphor simple or double metaphors, current or strange metaphors and common or unused metaphors. The word metaphor is derived from the Greek word Broeck (1981) presented "two categories of metaphor ‘Metaphoria’, which meant ‘to carry’. Metaphor is a as lexicalized and conventional" (Miremadi, 2003: comparison of two different phenomena which share 173). The first one refers to the lexical entities that some common points. It is a kind of condensed simile have lost their individual word semantic specifications that some parts of it, like topic or similarity markers and have become a certain language's lexical entity are deleted to convey the meaning connotatively. The chunks. The second one refers to fixed and common first definition of metaphor is expressed by Aristotle as metaphors in any language that can be easily "a shift carrying over a word from its normal use to a recognized. new one" (Richards, 1965: 89). For instance in the Black (1962) asserted that the only classification is sentence, 'the customer is king', many qualities a king between dead and live metaphors and he offers the has, like influence, importance, power and so on are following classification as, dormant metaphor, when attributed to a customer.