Story & Symbol 101: Introduction to Symbol Analysis in the Arts

NOTE: This class uses a short story that learners MUST read *BEFORE* our class meeting. If you would prefer that your learner read the story during class time, please search for the "mini camp" version of this same class on Outschool, or for "Story & Symbol 101A," which is only the first half of the class and does not use the short story, whatsoever.

Language is symbol and symbols are language. One cannot exist without the other, in some sense. Plumbing the depths of language can lead us to a better understanding of symbols, and plumbing the depths of symbols gives us a richer command of language. My "Story & Symbol" series takes learners from a world of image and sound to one of meaning, and then gives them the tools to create their own symbols, stories, and worlds, as eternal delivery systems for their thoughts, feelings, knowledge, and sense of meaning.

Story & Symbol 101 is an introductory course in which students will begin to view language as a system of symbols, constantly rearranged to relay different ideas. We will discuss Vladimir Nabokov's famous short story, "Symbols and Signs," and look at the symbolic development of languages, and how we continue to interpret and misinterpret the symbols of English.

This course is designed to be taken before any other in the "Story & Symbol" series, and aimed towards high school students with grade-level or higher command and comprehension of English, an interest in reading and writing, and at least a curiosity about interdisciplinary learning.

Because this class meets only once, there is no homework, but students are provided with notes to review that can help to prepare them for my other "Story & Symbol" classes.