American Literature / Unit 1 AML 0027 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Symbol and Allegory: The Difference the Exam Tests
Captions available
The idea
A symbol is an object that carries a meaning beyond itself, and a contextual symbol carries that meaning only inside its own work. An allegory is a whole work whose characters and events stand for something else, so the second meaning runs the story's length.
In practice
One image, or the whole machine.
Where people slip
Allegory is structural; a symbol is local.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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