When my
brother has a question about English he always asks me. It could have something
to do with the Literature program I’m in, or maybe he just doesn't like how my
other two sisters explain things. One night he asked me "Does the author
always put so many symbols intentionally? Cause my teacher finds symbolic
details in dirt. It’s bullshit.” Like my brother, most of us have probably been
there. The most famous example of this is "Why are the curtains blue?
Because the author wanted to emphasize the character’s sadness, loneliness blah
blah blah." We all secretly think; maybe he or she just liked blue
curtains. If our class was lucky, maybe there was a student who’d say this
out loud and get the death glare from the teacher clutching To Kill A
Mockingbird to her chest.
When
it comes to our own writing, we start thinking that every little detail must be
symbolic. It doesn't. Most of the time, if you really begin to write your work
with emotion and passion, symbolic details will just pop up on their own. This
year I wrote a short story about a girl lying in a field of grass and a boy
with a crush on her sits down too because he wants to learn how to understand
her. My friend pointed out that a meadow is a really intimate place and it's
ironic how they both are there but he feels distant from her. Although it's not
a huge symbol, it's a little one and I had no intention of ever having it. I
used a field because, frankly, they sound cool. Another example a friend
found in my work was when the girl gave the boy an origami bird and when he
goes home he realizes it fell out of a hole in his pocket. She said something
along the lines that “the ending was interesting because the bird is suppose to
symbolize freedom but he loses it so it shows he can’t hold onto her or his
future.” When someone is peer editing my work, like in both of these examples,
I just nod like that was my intention. It wasn’t and it doesn’t have to be
yours either.
My
point of this little spiel is don’t write with symbols in mind. From experience,
I learnt that it makes my writing forced and not fluid. The best types of
symbols are the ones you don’t intend, the ones you find with your readers. Yes,
you can intend to put a few symbols into your writing because it might help
foreshadow or explain your story line. But don’t go thinking you must be a
writer like Margret Atwood or Edgar Allen Poe (who are amazing writers if you haven’t come across their work) who have symbols
every few lines. Be your own writer. Make your own symbols—or don’t. The beauty
of writing is that there are no rules. Write a piece with so many symbols it’s
the best piece to write an essay on or don’t and create a piece with absolutely
no symbols to see what your writing on it’s own can come up with.
So
when my brother asked me that question, I answered; “Of course not but just go
with it.”
I think this is right in a sense that most writers don't even think about the symbols they add in their story. Writing is definitely something complicated in terms of structure and symbolism, which differs for each writer. I really liked how you said "Be your own writer" because I think that this is what writing is all about. Some writers do, however, think intently about symbols. For example, George Orwell wrote and rewrote many times 1984 when he was bedridden. He played with the symbols in his novel so much that it is impossible not to miss them. I think that you don't have to do that to be a good writer though, like you said not every little detail has to be a symbol.
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