My last post started me thinking about the relationship of writers and the works they create to readers and their interpretation of a story. I am talking about novels and short stories, here.  And to narrow the field further, I am talking about what might be called literature as opposed to popular writing. 

Literature is writing that has a story that is universal in its message and stands the test of time while popular writing is writing that is for entertainment and may not even be remembered within a year of reading it.

My question is: When a writer creates a story, does he or she painstakingly sit down and work out all the symbolism that we as readers glean from the writing?

An example is from the previous post. I stated in some rather flowery language that we, like Sparrowhawk in A Wizard of Earthsea, need to get in our boat of life and navigate our way through the waters of the world — or some such thing. 

Did Ursula K. Le Guin actually sit down and say, “I will make my protagonist ride around in a boat – in the beginning to random places when he is running away and then when he takes command of his life he will use his own powers to push the boat where he needs it to go to achieve his goal. The waters will symbolize the world, the boat will symbolize Sparrowhawk’s life and where he takes the boat with his magician powers will symbolize his inner strength and purpose and every reader will be a happy reader because they will understand exactly what lesson I am telling them!”

I have a difficult time believing authors actually do this.  If they did we might never  have any books to read! 

Some of this does take place, but not to the degree that readers are inclined to fasten meaning to every little element of a story.  I say this because if that were the case, it would be apparent because the story would lack any luster or freshness that the plot or theme might intrinsically have.  It would, instead, become a lesson in all the things that, for instance, water or a boat or magical power might symbolize.  A Freudian psychologist might attack such a book with relish, but the common reader?  No.

A writer does set some of the symbolism up through careful thought about the setting, the time period, the characters and their traits, the weather and so forth — the major elements he or she needs to craft a story. If the setting is right for the story, the symbols come naturally from ordinary elements of the setting as well as out of the subconscious of the writer (which he doesn’t realize). 

The reader makes symbols of these natural elements and they take on a meaning the reader can relate to, allowing the formation of a universal truth such as: If we want to make something of ourselves in this world we have to expend time, energy, and sometimes take dangerous chances.  Thus, the reader fills in for himself all the details of the meanings of a boat or an ocean or a tree or the dark or the raven that sits, staring with a bright, beady eye.

I imagine authors might be amused, at times, to hear some of the symbolism that is attached to their writing, but I do not think they would be upset by it.  Each of us has a different worldview and unique experiences that trigger associations.  An ocean symbolizes one thing to this person and quite another to that person and the meanings or symbols attached to the ocean can easily be at polar opposites.

So, what do you think?  Am I totally off-base in my thinking or am I only a little right or am I completely right?