The one inch space the buttons took left the rest empty but I thought to myself, is it really emptiness that that males it look so lovely. It's the hope of filling it and the joy of slowly doing so.
Objects are symbols. They're representation is only relevant when we give them meaning.
An engagement ring.
A photo of a loved one passed on.
A lucky rabbits foot.
A song that brings back a memory, though not an object the sound is carried through one.
Even if the meaning is negative it is still meaningful.
A cluttered closet is cluttered mind. Is it a coincidence you feel better in a organized home?
A empty room is loneliness. There's no one there not even a chair.
A forgotten teddy bear slumped over with dust on it's glassy eyes. Could it be this bear has a heart? I can imagine it may be crying.
Objects are just as symbolic in life as they are in fiction. In my first novel Pull, two specific objects make their appearance and do so in my second novel. Their symbolism doesn't change with my characters as they mean the same thing to one character as it does to another. Symbols and signs carry weight because to everyone it's meaning is similar. Like dreams of snakes can mean death or rebirth, depending on the dreamer, yet death is also seen as a rebirth and in that they are similar.
Darkness is negative.
Lightness is positive.
These things are represented the same in nearly every culture.
Is not the night filled with stars and a bright moon? Positive even in darkness.
The clouds shroud the moon, and the natural light is no more. Destroying the positive.
When you are reading a story take note of the objects in the way they are represented and it gives clues to the inner workings of the character and even the plot resolution.
In Pull, one object the protagonists tinkers with is a music box that he once brought home to his sick mother. When the object is first introduced, it is dismantled in pieces on his writing desk, no longer in use for the purpose it had before. The owner, Red, keeps it as it used to be his mothers. This object will later appear in the series with a similar purpose to wake a loved one from their slumber, but with a different owner.
You give objects their meaning and this is very important in fiction as objects are like shells in sifted sand. Its very presence is important to the story. How many things do you have, make such a presence in your life?
My button jar isn't nearly full but hope-full.
Here's a few other objects I placed in my novel series for symbolism fun whether the reader knows it or not:
Aspen tree: Overcoming fear.
Oak tree: Strength and courage.
Day Lily: Wish for a baby boy.
Rose: Beauty, love, purity.
Phoenix: death, purification, rebirth.
Bee: regeneration, fruitful activity, feminine, growth, motherhood.
Crow: Red is the book 1 protagonist who shape shifts into a crow, Omen (good and bad), associates with the darkness, keeper of the sacred law, messenger.
Red Tailed Hawk: Guardian, protection, healing, safety, long life, higher perspective.
Owl: Vigilance, acute wit, patience, keen sight, solitude, time, harbinger of new cycles.
Dog: Grey is a character throughout the Sanctuary novels shape shifts into a Alaskan Husky dog, it's a tradition that Huskies are named by their personality and in Grey's case he is a gray area character; he is both the hero and the villain (both light and dark). Dogs: guardian of secrets, faith, loyalty, friendship, power over life and death.
Music box: Call back a loved one from slumber, memory.
Victorian pocket watch: Victorian era, time, reminder of purpose. (in Pull Red carries one. He was born in this era. He gives this watch later in book 2 which its purpose is "enhanced".)
Violet: The name of the character my protagonist falls in love with whose aura is blue. Little blue flower, affection, virtue, faithfulness.
Feather: Center of existence, innocence, trust. (in Pull Grey gives Violet a feather necklace which later is ripped from her neck)
*Pull is my first novel in the Sanctuary series.
art by derSheltie at Deviantart.com
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