In the essay "Symbols," S.I. Hayakawa observes mankind's overbearing habit of using symbolization as a way of life. He describes the symbolic process in a way that is unique only to humans. Animals have no thought of symbols and exist without any of the rules of society that mankind has adapted to "life." Animals may fight each other for leadership and basic survival, Hayakawa stresses, but man fights for leadership to gain the respect and wealth that his title brings. In a society ruled by wealth and power, money brings respect and reverence to those who obtain it. The idea of power is an endless deluge of right and wrong, and often, a man can be lost in this symbolic process.
Hayakawa stresses that, without the human idea of symbolism, there would be no spoken--or written--language. The idea just wouldn't have occurred if the symbolic process hadn�t been created. Words aren't things, but they represent things. A collection of sounds or a group of letters on a paper alerts the listener or reader to the discussion, but no one could physically grasp a syllable or feel the alphabet.
Also, with the idea of words comes the idea of lying, a falsity that symbolizes something that is different than the idea it should be symbolizing. For instance, Hayakawa gives the example of hunger. A person could absently assert the want of food, but not actually be hungry. Lying makes us human; an animal eats out of necessity, not to gloat upon wealth. An animal has no need to say something other than fact to gain something in return. Another downfall of symbolizing is the evident obscurity concerning different cultures. Conflicts between language and the idea of wealth occur frequently, and sometimes war--another symbol of the fight for power--results.
Hayakawa also expresses the lack of ability people sometimes have in distinguishing the difference between the symbol and the thing symbolized. "In the case of drama...there appear to be people...who never quite fully realize that a film or television show is a set of fictional symbolic representations" (Hayakawa, 17.) The public audience often recognizes actors only as their character(s) and sometimes people don't realize the difference between fantasy and reality. Hayakawa offers the instance of the 1938 radio broadcast of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds, and I recall the student film, the Blair Witch Project. In both instances, reviewers believed that these productions of drama were true-life occurrences. These productions show that people sometimes find trouble in differentiating drama from real life.
Hayakawa sums up his essay by asserting the fact that the word is not the thing. He states that most knowledge we obtain is through language--verbal symbols, and that only symbolizing can be revealed through actual experience. Words can have many different meanings, but the true meaning can only be recognized if touched first-hand.
This stressed-need of discerning fact from symbol is also a point that Sue Hubbell makes in her essay, �Mites, Moths, Bats, and Mosquitoes.� Hubbell discusses the benefits of; you guessed it, mites, moths, bats and mosquitoes, which are often looked down upon as pests. In discussing the values, she finds that the word bat, due to many myths and the animal�s otherworldly facade, generally repulses people. �[Bats] are old and alien to us, too, so much so that we have made up fancies about them...� In many cultures bats are considered bad omens, a negative symbol, although a bat is really just a warm-blooded, winged mammal that eats bothersome insects. A bat�s prerogative is not to attack humans, as many would like to think, but still people fear what could actually help them.
In all of this symbolic confusion, Hayakawa tries to point out how easy it is to lose sight of the actual reality of things. He is adamant throughout his entire essay that we, as humans, should understand true truth and think clearly for ourselves before creating any set of beliefs.
Work Cited
Hayakawa, S. I. �Symbols.� Language in Thought and Action, Fifth Edition. Orlando: Harcourt, 1939. 13-21
Hubbell, Sue �Mites, Moths, Bats, and Mosquitoes.� A Country Year: Living the Questions. 1986