Symbolism is representing the meaning of some object, to give an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant. Also, an action, an event or even a word spoken may have a symbolic value. By its definition, symbols are a means of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of meaning. (Womack, M. 2005) A simple example, smile is a symbol of friendship. Thus, the action of someone smiling at you may stand as a symbol of the feeling of affection which that person has. Symbols do shift their meanings depending on the context they are used in. Thus, symbolic meaning of an object or an action is understood by how it is used. It also depends on who reads the work.
According to Pierce, a symbol is a general sign, a sign whose meaning has been agreed by a wide range of people (1894), and to Barthes, symbol is equal to Myth, the third order of signification which carries cultural meaning. (1972) Laurence Perrine (1983: 4) stated that the universal and specific meaning of a symbol can be understood as general and contextual meanings. The general or universal meaning covers the interpretation of a symbol which carries with it a worldwide acknowledgement. As it called as universal meaning, it must be easily perceived by the majority of people, because there has been some kind of agreement made upon its meaning. Thus it also has specific or contextual meaning.
Furthermore, a novel writer turns imagination and the surrounding circumstances into a story in which certain things are possible to be represented as symbols, for instance, quoted from Kate Choplin short story about the death of Mrs. Mallard at the end of Story of an Hour might symbolize the death of her freedom as a married woman whose rights were possessed fully by her husband whom she thinks died in an accident earlier that day. (1894) A similar case of a surrounding circumstances in the story in that has certain things considered to have to represented as symbols also appear in The Cactus by Henry O. By the discovery of several symbols in The Cactus by Henry O, that are glove, cactus, and Spanish a deeper understanding about the context of the story is needed because without understanding the context or content of the literary work, the interpretation of this specific meaning may not be any closer to the interpretation the author tries to express (Perrine, L. 1983:4).
First, the glove. Described as and it is not past belief that one may review an entire courtship while removing one’s glove (line 3) it can be understand that Trysdale start to hesitating his own relationship. He is thinking about go over his entire courtship. This glove thing mentioned at least three times in the story, also in as he slowly unbuttoned his gloves, there passed through Trysdale’s mind a swift, scarifying retrospect of the last few hours (line 11) a word slowly is the key of this supposed to mean. Then, in as Trysdale grimly wrenched apart the seam of his last glove, the crowning instance of his fatuous and tardily mourned egoism came vividly back to him. (line 42) Sentences that has the word glove inside it depicted Trysdale doubt inside. Along the story goes it explained the process of doubt that was in him until he finally let go as he grimly wrenched. Thus, Trysdale’s slow opening of gloves becomes symbolic of his conscious rejection of the past.
Second, the cactus. It is the most vivid symbol in the story as I can understand. Because cactus has a lot more clear mean as a symbol, cactus is a thorny plant, conventionally accepted as a symbol of repulsion and distancing, suffering and wound, becomes a symbol of amorous invitation. Despite the twist end, cactus as a symbol is used by the writer to trick the reader into guessing the end. At noon her groom came to the door and left the strange cactus in the red earthen jar. There was no note, no message, merely a tag upon the plant bearing a barbarous foreign or botanical name. (line 66) here it is how the author manipulates the reader to believe that Trysdale accept a repulsion. The part of Trysdale misjudge the cactus where he could have confronted his girlfriend for a clear explanation about her a thorny cactus means. The final revelation comes at the end knowing that the botanical name Ventomarme means come and get me, that was worth a dozen love letters. To conclude, the gloves Trysdale finally loose may be equated with the love that he has to let go of.
Third, it is the Spanish. As far as I understand from the story, the author use Spanish to symbolize the description of Trysdale’s character that is hypocrite because it all started when his girlfriend asked him if he knew any Spanish words and he said yes, but he lied because he doesn’t really know any Spanish languages. To be known as young, noble and wealthy man, he did not want others to know that he lack of something. However, for Trysdale’s been lying and the ignorance that kept him from understanding the inviting message “come and take me” that first written in Spanish so the bad luck that comes up to it is indeed due to himself.
To be concluded, there are several sign in the story that the author want us to understand from the symbol he used to describe and deliver the story. The symbol gloves, cactus and Spanish becomes useful to identify the correlation of symbols, narrative mode and character representation to lead to the point of reversal when the irony of fate is realized by both characters and readers. Gloves that symbolize doubt, cactus means come and get me message that worth a dozen love letters, and Spanish means to describe how hypocrite the character is. It proven that symbols can carry deeper meanings according to the context used in the novel.
References
Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. London: J. Cape.
Perrine, Laurence. 1983. Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense. NY: Harcourt
Peirce, C. S. (1894). The Art of Reasoning. Chapter II. What is a Sign?. MS [R] 404; MS [R] 1009.
Womack, Mari. Symbols and Meaning: A Concise Introduction. California: AltaMira Press, 2005.
