Activity

@linz
I think you asked a great question! Symbolism and allegory are very similar and oftentimes intertwine with one another in stories (such as in The Chronicles of Narnia). Since both use the symbol, “an object that stands for something else as well as for itself [and therefore] points to a meaning beyond itself” (BJU British Literature Second Edition), it can be difficult to see their differences. To me, the differences lie in the way each method uses symbols in a story.

In symbolism, symbols represent general ideas and concepts. This method is useful because the symbols tend to be more versatile. For example, the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit can be interpreted as a symbol of greed. But does he represent greed in general, Thorin’s greed, or the greedy person Bilbo may have become had he not gone on the quest for the Lonely Mountain? Since symbolism doesn’t tie the symbols to one interpretation, they can embody many different ideas at once or at different points in the story. However, since multiple meanings inevitably lead to multiple interpretations, symbolism can end up confusing the reader with all the different meanings a single symbol could convey.

On the other hand, a symbol in allegory usually represents only one object throughout the entire story. This method is helpful because the reader can more easily interpret what the symbol stands for. In every Chronicles of Narnia novel, for example, Aslan represents Jesus. Once the reader recognizes this, he can easily see how Aslan’s actions demonstrate different facets of Christ’s character (such as our Savior in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Sovereign God  in The Horse and His Boy). One downside to allegorical symbols is that they must adhere closely to the objects they represent in order to avoid misunderstandings about what the person/object being represented is like.

Some of the others have also posted explanations for the differences between allegory and symbolism. Daeus had a good illustration for the differences between them in his response to @ethryndal in post 41184 (second page of this thread), and Karthmin detailed some of the differences in the second half of post 41597 (also on the second page).

I hope this helps! 🙂