2660

ESL 21A

Essay 1.2

796 words

People use symbols everyday for various purposes or use them without knowing that they are the symbols. It can be found in everywhere. For instance, "games are often used as a symbol for life and baseball is being used to stand for politics. Symbols are signs or objects that mean something else. In other words, "it is a sign that has no necessary or natural connection to the things they signify according to Kottak." "All symbols operate as if they were two-sided coins; one side is the physical characteristic and another side is the meaning."{1} Although symbols are everywhere, people do not realize the importance of the symbols. Since it is better for the human mind to comprehend ideas better when they are expressed in visual and auditory, SCapitalizationymbols help people to understand abstract ideas such as love, opposition, freedom, power, and fear.

Love is a very strong feeling of affection towards someone who you are romantically or sexually attracted to according to the dictionary. As it is, it is not easy to understand what exactly love is. Love could mean different {***}MissingW dependWForm on people's feeling, however, it is often symbolized by signs or object such as Venus, the goddess and a symbol of love, and a wedding ring, means of marriage and love. Also, it could be sex for some people who think it as love. When the word love is symbolized by signs and object, it is easy for human mind to recognize and understand what love really is.

Opposition is a strong, angry, or violent disagreement and disapproval. Mostly, the word opposition is used when people are against something. For instance, it could be used as opposition to authority or opposition to society. In the 1960s in the United States, all men in authority had short hair, however, young men created a symbol of opposition when they allowed their hair to grow long. Also dyeing one's hair blue or orange could be a symbol of opposition to the society. Thus, people made symbols of oppositions so that they could be easily recognized as an opposition to the authority or society.

TheArt freedom is an another abstract idea. According to the dictionary, freedom is the state of being allowed to do what you want to do. People know what freedom is but hard to explain to another. Thus, people made symbols of freedom to be easily comprehended. American flag is the symbol of freedom. Also, The Statue of Liberty is the symbol of freedom. For many years, most ofCut many immigrants see The Statue of Liberty and think America as the land of freedom. Thus, the United States made this statue to symbolize the freedom to all the residents as well as the immigrants. American boldSpace eagle also symbolizes the freedom. Not only people made the symbols to be easily understandable but also the nations used symbols as well.

    It is also hard to describe what power is. When someone has power, it means that he or she has control over people or activities. However, how to discern one who has power from normal people is not really straightforward. In order to be recognizable as having power, the authority wears something that symbolize those people have power. For instance, the curved staff of the pharaoh of Egypt was the symbol of office, the king. Queen Elizabeth of England wore a crown to symbolize her office. Accordingly, when abstract idea was symbolized to an object, it is ease to comprehend what it is.

How can you explain what fear is? You could explain fear as unpleasant feeling when you are in danger. The color 'black' could symbolize fear. Black color is dark and gloomy so that many people express their fear as black. Also, skull may symbolize fear since it is shown when somebody is dead. Thus, many artists try to explain fear by coloring their pictures with black and purple with a skull.

Therefore the importance of symbol is that it helps people to understand abstract ideas such as love, fear, power, and opposition. Venus symbolizes love and goddess, and wedding ring symbolizes love as well as sex. Having long hair may be symbolized as opposition to authority who has short hair, and dyeing one's hair to blue or orange may symbolize as the symbol of the opposition to society. The American flag, The Statue of Liberty, and American bold eagle symbolize the freedom. The curved staff and the crown symbolize the office of power. The color black and purple and skull may symbolize fear. Accordingly, symbols are used everywhere to let people understand better by making them to signs or object to be visualized. Even though symbols are everywhere, people should know the significance of symbol's functions and use them in right way.