This post was originally published on this site.
Water is one of the most common symbols used in literature. However, much like how water itself is incredibly versatile and multifaceted, positive and negative. The different things that water can symbolize vary greatly between various works of literature. Take a look at our basic breakdown of many of the common symbols you may come across! Let’s start making waves!
Positive Symbols
Life/Rebirth: One of the most common symbols that water can represent is life. Both we humans and the Earth itself need water to survive. Water can symbolize new life entering a story. Similarly, it can symbolize rebirth. This connects the representation of life with another popular use of water symbolism, purification. This can be seen when water is connected to something, changing or entering a new era of their life.
Purification: As mentioned before, water can be used to symbolize purification. This is often seen in a religious context as well as in literature. For example, the Christian faith uses water to baptize people, which represents them being washed clean of their sins and purified (or something similar, depending on denomination). Water can move waste away and clean people and things. This leads to it often being used in literature to symbolize something that was once evil, bad, or dirty becoming clean, healthy, or better in some way.
Fertility/Growth: Water is needed for all life forms to grow. Similarly, water is often used to represent positive growth in literature. Similar to water feeding plants to grow, it can represent someone overcoming an obstacle or improving in some form. Also, similar to it symbolizing life and rebirth, water can also represent fertility. Water is needed for a plant seed to survive into grow, so water is often used to represent fertility.
Negative Symbols
Destruction: Water can also be used to represent destruction. Hurricanes, tsunamis, and floods can be incredibly destructive. Therefore, water (especially if it’s in one of the mentioned forms) can be used to symbolize something breaking down, being destroyed, or some form of chaos.
The Unknown: A large portion of the water on Earth is unexplored. Oceans are vast, deep, and hard to learn about. There’s an element of mystery and unknown to these large bodies of water. This can be utilized in stories to represent things that are unknown in the plot or in characters’ lives or backstories.
Obstacles: Bodies of water can be difficult to cross. Large rivers, lakes, or oceans can stop people in their tracks if they’re trying to get across them but don’t have what they need. Similarly, water can symbolize a hard-to-cross obstacle in literature. If a character needs to do something or get somewhere and something is in their way, water is often used to represent that.
Water may be ever-changing, but its literary symbolism remains powerful and consistent across time. Whether it brings life or chaos, growth or mystery, water continues to make waves in the stories we tell.
The post Making Waves: The Power of Water in Literature appeared first on Big Read Lakeshore.
