
The most frustrating thing as a student, in my opinion, is sitting in a literature class listening to a teacher force his or her interpretation of a text into my head for me to memorize and then get tested on it. Why should I have to memorize a teacher’s interpretation if I believe the text means something else? For some of us, this is not the case; however, most of my years in school this is how it has been. The teacher tells me that a certain symbol means something, so I automatically assumed that is the only possible thing the object could mean. I never really thought that symbols can have multiple meanings if that meaning can be justified. Letting someone else tell you what a symbol means may be easier and faster than finding your own meaning, but it has far less benefit than finding your own meaning you can relate to yourself. In “Is That a Symbol?” Thomas C. Foster challenges students (and all readers) to create their own meanings of texts to help them grow as an individual and think for themselves.

Foster, a teacher at the University of Michigan for twenty-seven years, begins with a response all teachers should make when asked what a certain symbol means (17,18). “Well, what do you think?” (18). With this response, I believe Foster is trying to engage his students to find out what the text means to them, not just to memorize what he believes it means. In order for students to receive a true education, they must learn to make their own meanings of symbols. He states that the problem with symbols is “people expect them to mean something. Not just any something, but one something in particular” (18). In my opinion, Foster poses that quote directly at students. Do not just take a teacher’s word a symbol means one particular thing just because he or she has certain qualifications and experience. The meaning you receive from a symbol could most likely be right too and perhaps even what the author intended the symbol to mean. Also, although sometimes some symbols may only seem to have one meaning, it is likely that someone else with a different perspective on the symbol can discover a different meaning with enough time to think about it. Foster states, “In general a symbol can’t be reduced to standing for only one thing… If they can, it’s not symbolism, it’s allegory” (18). 

Foster then discusses George Orwell’s Animal Farm, a book most of us probably read at some point in high school. If you have read this book, then I am sure you are aware, and were tested on all of the symbolism throughout it. The symbols that the animals and their actions represent are very straightforward to figure out if the reader knows the slightest history of the Russian Revolution. However, Foster states, “Symbols, though, generally don’t work so neatly. The thing referred to is likely not reducible to a single statement but will more probably involve a range of possible meanings and interpretations” (18). Following that quote, he then moves on to discuss E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India, and gives many different interpretations of the symbolic “caves” in the story. I believe he gives these examples to show readers that symbols and their meanings are not always on the surface of the text as they appear in Animal Farm, but sometimes the reader has to dig deeper into what the author is saying to put meanings to symbols like in A Passage to India. According to Foster, “If we want to figure out what a symbol might mean, we have to use a variety of tools on it: questions, experience, preexisting knowledge” (19). If one believes that quote to be true, it explains why everyone interprets symbols their own way. Everyone draws attention to different details in the text, has a different life background, and upbringing which causes different interpretations. 

Lastly, Foster uses examples from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Bridge, and The Waste Land to show that even though a certain symbol (a river in this case) is used in one text, it does not mean it has the same meaning in a different text. When talking about these texts, Foster states, “You can’t simply say, well it’s a river so it means x” (23). For instance, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the river has multiple meanings according to Foster, it is Jim’s escape to freedom, but also symbolizes the road to Huck’s growing adulthood. Although in The Bridge, Foster believes the rivers mentioned symbolize connection and bring the country together. However, even though the same symbol may be used in different texts but mean different things, previous knowledge of that symbol being used can be beneficial to discovering new meanings in different texts. 

Just like practice makes perfect, Foster says, “The more you exercise the symbolic imagination, the better and quicker it works” (23). When reading, use your imagination and be creative. Most of the time, the first urge you get about the meaning of a symbol is right. Do not be lazy and just listen to other people’s interpretations. If you try to understand the meaning of a symbol for yourself, it is not necessary to memorize anything because it is your own thought. Most people just do not want to apply themselves and take the time to actually think the text through and through to find their meaning. A symbol can have any meaning as long as you are able to back up the meaning with factual information from the text. This is a vital skill not only in school but also in life to teach students or individuals how to think for themselves using reason. By finding your own meaning in symbols in all works of literature you come across, it can help you discover who you truly are and help to develop your thought process.
