2517

ESL 21A

Essay 1.2

    A symbol is an object, a character, or other concrete representations of an idea, a concept, or other abstractions. (Wikipedia) According to the author of the article "The Anthropological View of Religion," a symbol does not have to have relationships between the meaning and a symbol itself. Symbols can be anything. However, in my opinion, it must be understandable among wide range people. There are two reasons for this; common understanding and insisting without saying.

    The most widely used symbol is language. According to Wikipedia, all language is made up by symbols. The word "cat," whether spoken or written, is not a cat, but is a symbol for cat. There are more than five thousands kinds of languages all over the world. (Rosenfelder, 1996) A "cat" must be spoken (or written) in other five thousand ways. However, a dictionary allows the variety understandable. If the word were common in very small group, most people could not understand what the "cat" is. It does not work for communication. When I talk with Japanese friends, for example, I use "neko" as a cat. Because the friends also use "neko" for a cat, they can understand what I mean with the word. In the case of talking with friends whose first language is not Japanese, they also can understand what I say with using dictionary. However, if the word is just for a small group, such as my family, they never understand it.

Symbols for map are also.Fragment A map must lead everyone to the destination they want to go. If some symbols are different from the ones used in another group, it is really not useful. Guess the case that the mark for a bank is used for a police office in another group. It might be good for safety of the town (because a robber would go to a police office by their own instead of a bank), but actually it makes people confused. In this case, for example, a person who wants to go to a bank may go to another irrelevant place, a police office. In other word, a person who wants to go to a police office also makes the same mistake which is to go to a bank. These marks have to be standardized or recognizable to everybody due to the purpose of using a symbol of maps. If these symbols do not work with common understanding, there is no meaning to use maps.

    In 1700s, the Puritans wore short hair‚“ which were called Roundheads to show defiance against the Cavaliers of King Charles I of England. (Symbolic System and Meanings) Everyone had known that the Cavaliers wore their long hairs because they were authority. People could understand the short hairs is opposite of long ones, and imagined the Puritans were oppose the established authority. The Puritans' purpose was directly shows someone -especially, the Cavaliers- their style, which can be said as symbol, of opposition.Good! So the symbol was easy to see, understandable, and included a little bit sarcasm. It is the same thing when children against their parents, and do something new (or strange) when they are on rebellious stage. Most Parents could not be able to understand why their children prefer to wear long front hair even though it makes children's eye worse. Parents might not be able to know why their children wear pants with lower position. Every child says it is the fashion, but the reason the style seems cool is that it shows they do not obey their parents, teachers, and rules clearly.

    The healing ritual in shamanic societies exists not only for curing a person who is annoyed by a physical illness, but also psychological and social needs. (The Anthropological View of Religion) Because the sectarians believe that the illness is a punishment for breaking cultural taboos, they attend the ritual and ask a shaman, who is believed to be able to contact with their god, forgiveness. The shaman, when he acts like remove something bad from a patient's body with his mouth, it is a sign of the forgivenessGood!. Meanwhile, the purpose of the Christian's wearing the cross may be also forgiveness. The Christians think they have the origin sin even though they did nothing, and they want be saved by believing Jesus Christ. In this case, the Christians do not want to show their crosses to others because it does not mean good things by their bible. However, they show their dedication to Christ who lives in frocks' hearts.

    In conclusion, a symbol acts as an opinion, object, or something without explaining in our daily life. It can be sometimes a language, or a mark as common understanding, and a hair style, or a behavior for showing their opinion without saying. A symbol makes communication possible, and takes the place of explaining.