Symbolism

Identification:
Symbolism is a way to indirectly express in a literary work by symbol. A symbol is a physical object or an event that is used to represents something invisible or abstract, such as an idea, a value, or an emotion.

Key elements:

Universal symbols: embody universally recognizable meanings wherever used.
Such as: light to symbolize knowledge, a skull to symbolize death.

Invested symbols: given the symbolic meaning by the way an author uses them in a literary work.

Examples:

Universal symbols:
In “Story of an Hour”, after Mrs Mallord knows her husband’s death, she locks herself in the bedroom. She sees a view of new spring life. The smell of rain is delicious, a distant song is singing, and countless sparrows are twittering. Those objects symbolize a new life full of hope.
In “The Street-Sweeping Show”, the mayor has a limousine, his house has two stairs with a bath tub, and he has a servant. All of this symbols indicate his life is much more luxury than ordinary people at that time.

Invested symbols:
In “The Egg,”the egg symbolizes “hope” and “the father”. From the character of an egg, it can hatch a chicken, so it indicates hope in it. In addition, its shell is fragile. This characteristic is similar with the father, easy to break down.
In “Swaddling Clothes”, newspaper is used as swaddling clothes. It is a symbol of something that is cheap or valueless, unimportant, and disrespectable.