Chapter 32 Symbolism

"Fool!" Ursula yelled. "Why don't you ride the horse and come back when the cart has passed?" Gu Deyuan looked at him, his pupils dilated, fascinated.But he was sitting on the mare, looking as radiant as ever.He tried his best to control the horse.The horse was whirling on the ground like a gust of wind, but it couldn't escape his grasp no matter what.Truck after truck, truck after truck, rumbled slowly through the crossing.The sound passed through the horse's body, full of terror, and the horse suddenly panicked. As if to see what was going to happen, the driver pulled the brakes and the wagon rumbled back on the tracks, getting closer, closer.The roaring sound was like cymbals, trembling and piercing, very terrifying: look at the horse again, opened its mouth, and slowly raised its front hooves, as if being blown up by an evil wind.Suddenly, it shook its whole body, struggling to move forward, trying to break free from this terrible place.Unexpectedly, the horse leaned back, and the two women hugged each other tightly, for fear that the horse would fall and crush him.However, he was lying firmly on the horse's back, his cheeks glowed, and he was very comfortable.At last, he pressed the horse's head, took control of it, and tried to regain his composure.Yet, despite his mighty arms, the horse was indeed quite frightened, and as it struggled to stay away from the rails, it ended up spinning and spinning on its hind legs as if it were in the center of a hurricane.At this time, a heart-piercing faint hit Gu Deyuan, as if it had penetrated her chest.

D. H. Lawrence (1921) In general, anything that "represents" something else is a symbol.However, this process behaves differently. The "+" sign can represent Christianity, because people associate him with the legend that Jesus was crucified on the cross. The "+" sign can also represent "crossroads" because the two are similar in shape.However, the symbolism in literature is not as simple and easy to understand as the above examples. This is because the symbolism in literature, on the one hand, strives to be innovative and different;All of these traits are especially frowned upon in traffic signs or religious images.If a metaphor or simile consists in comparing A to B, then literary symbolism is that B implies A, or A's.Symbolism in poetry creation began in France in the late nineteenth century, with representatives of Baudelaire, Valaire and Merimee, etc., and had a huge impact on British creation in the twentieth century.Its characteristic is that the superficial meaning or symbolic meaning is complicated and confusing, but there is no common core of reference.

But someone once said that the novelist's first task is to "call the shovel a shovel" (meaning "what to say", "outspoken".--Translator's Note), and then to make it symbolic.This is a piece of advice for those aiming to create works such as "Visions of Life".If "Shovel" is only symbolic, it tends to reduce the credibility of human activity in the novel. D. H. Lawrence was often willing to take this risk in order to show some kind of gifted insight or epiphany.In another chapter, for example, he has the protagonist roll naked on the grass and throw stones at Moon Shadow.However, in the passage quoted above, an excellent balance has been found between realistic description and symbolic meaning.

For its part, "Shovel" is a complex sequence of acts: a man struggles to control a mare frightened by a coal mine train driving across a crossing.Meanwhile, two women watch.The man's name was Gerald, and his father was the owner of a local coal mine.The coal mines were run by Gerald, for sooner or later he was to be the master of the coal mines.The whole background is the Nottinghamshire fields.Lawrence's father was a mining worker, and he himself grew up in this area.This area was originally beautiful, but the mines and railways have destroyed this beautiful nature.You might say that the train "symbolizes" the mining industry.Because, from an anthropological point of view, mining is a product of culture.The horse is a product of nature and symbolizes the countryside.Capitalism imposes industry on the countryside, and the process of Gerald's conquest of the mare coincides with this, which is extremely symbolic.He steers the mare, forcing it to accept the horrible monotonous noise of the train.

The two women in the text are two sisters.Ursula Brangwen is a teacher and Gu Deyuan Brangwen is an artist.They were taking a walk when they encountered a horse at the crossing, which surprised them.Both expressed sympathy for the frightened horse.Ursula was very dissatisfied with what Gerald had done, and blurted out.However, the whole scene is described from Jin Deok-won's point of view.Her own reactions were mixed, love-hate.The way Gerald tames the mare is sexually emblematic—"at last, he holds her down by the head, trying to regain her composure."Moreover, there is also an element of showing masculinity in front of the two ladies.Yursula was disgusted by the scene in front of her, which just aroused Gu Deyuan's sexual desire, and she could hardly control herself.The mare "stands on its hind legs and spins and spins, as if in the center of a hurricane. At this moment, a liver-piercing faint hits Gu Deyuan, which seems to have penetrated her chest ""Tearing the liver and cracking the lung" is an appropriate method, and logically speaking, it should embellish the pain of the horse.The author uses it to modify "fainting" to illustrate Gu Deyuan's confused mood at this time, and it also reminds people of the original meaning of the word "tearing liver and cracking lungs" which contains "penetrating" and "piercing". Deep meaning.Immediately in the next sentence, the author uses the word "penetrating" to imbue the whole description with a layer of symbolism, that is, masculine or phallic vigour.A few pages later, the author described Gu Deyuan like this: "Her heart was numb: the man's light, gentle but majestic body was deeply pressed into the living body of the mare, and the blond man's strong, powerful and majestic thighs clamped hard. Hold the trembling body of the mare, and hold her firmly." The whole scene does foreshadow the later emotional entanglement between Gu Deyuan and Gerald—it was a kind of frenzy and ruin for both parties. sexual relationship.

The symbolism of the scene would be discounted if Lawrence didn't also paint the scene with vivid, sexy detail.The author uses sound symbolism, that is, onomatopoeia, to describe the harsh sound and movement of the wagon—the wagon rumbles on the rails, getting closer, getting closer—and then, the vivid image of the horse appears.The mare, even when frightened, still looks the same, "Look at the horse again, opening its mouth, slowly raising its front hooves, as if being lifted by an evil wind." Always full of energy. It is worth noting that there are two distinct aspects to the symbolism in this quotation.Natural/cultural symbols are based on two figures of speech, metonymy and synecdoche.Metonymy replaces cause for effect or effect for cause (the train represents industry because it is a product of the Industrial Revolution), and synecdoche is part for whole or whole for part (horse for nature because it is a part of nature).Sexual symbols are based on metaphors and similes, based on the fact that there are certain similarities between A and B.Gerald's subjugation of the mare alludes to human sexuality.This technique was first discovered by the Russian structuralist Roman Jacobson, and it works on all levels of a text, even non-literary works.In the author's novel "Good Job", the heroine Robin Purnrose convinces the suspicious Vic Wilcox through the analysis of cigarette advertisements.For other examples, see Graham Greene's novels. (Section 35: Exotic customs)