Symbols and Subversion in 13 Happiness Street Essay -- 13 Happiness Str

13 Happiness route is a political satire which relies largely on the putridness of stuffy symbols to convey its message. By subversion, I mean the process by which Bei Dao uses unlawful meanings of conventional symbols to undermine accepted literary norms. That is, he offers in locate of the common associations of a symbol, another symbolic association that draws its meaning from the scene of the narrative. Indeed, the very meaning of the narrative is couched in the language of metaphors and symbols. It is here that the designer constructs a narrative using conventional symbols which play upon and also against the readers expectations. forwards we examine the means by which the author subverts the archetypal notions of symbols, it is first assertive to understand how these symbols stand in relation to the narrative and the reader.Symbols find their put up within a narrative through a conscious zest of the author to create a pattern of meaning, while the reader on the other hand, attempts to re-construct these meanings by drawing upon conventional associations with events. Conventional symbols are and then internalized in our mental consciousness and associated with what we take to be their predisposed meanings. That is, our minds kit and caboodle to form preconceived mental pictures of what these symbols should universally represent. 13 Happiness course is thus a narrative that gains much of its significance through the subversion of conventional symbols against our expectations.The subversion of the archetypal symbol takes place within mixed levels of the narrative, the first cosmos the immediate layer of the narrative itself, and the second being the symbols within the narrative. I shall first discuss how Bei Dao subv... ...the dichotomy between the tell and the implied. On the surface, it may seem to be a story that ends inconclusively about a boy who is never found, but the use of mixed symbols each bringing with them a string of other meani ngs contributes to the symbolic splendour of his prose.Works Cited Bei Dao, 13 Happiness Street. Contemporary Literature of Asia. Ed. Arthur Biddle et al. Blair Upper shoot River, NJ, 1996. 280-291.Chatman, Seymour, Existents. Story and Discourse Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca Cornell UP, 1978. 107-126, 131-145.Todorov, Tzvetan. dickens Principles in Narrative. Genres in Discourse. Trans. Catherine Porter. Cambridge Cambridge UP, 27-30.Holden, Philip. Aristotle on Plot. 26 Nov. 2000. University Scholars Programme. 1 Aug. 2001 http//www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/ writings/ccla01/aristotleplot.html.