Symbolism and Typology and the Ancient Art of Storytelling

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As a high school senior and later a college literaturemajor, I loved writing about symbolism in stories. My first symbolism essay wason The Lord of the Flies by WilliamGolding. In it, I discussed the character Simon as a Christ figure. I stillhave the essay, of which I was extremely proud, though now I see it was poorlywritten. It earned an A, so it must have been decent for a high school senior.This was when discussing Christianity in school was allowed. I believe theteacher suggested the topic.

As an adult, returning to the Catholic faith, I grewexcited to learn about Biblical typology. A "type" is an element ofthe Old Testament: a person, thing, or event, which foreshadows something inthe New Testament. The Fisheaters website has a nice article on it.

The element can be seen as having literally existed butalso be symbolic. It's not either/or.
I think of God as the supreme author of the universe.After all, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, andthe Word was God." (Jn1:1)*
For instance, circumcision foreshadows Christian baptism.The Passover lamb signifies the sacrifice of Jesus. The Ark of the Covenantsymbolize foreshadows Mary who carried Jesus in her womb. (More on these andothers at this article at Catholic Answers.


Today I listened to Grammar Girl's podcast. (No, I'm notveering off course). She talked about Lisa Cron's book Wired for Story. Ms. Cron says our brains are wired to respond tostory. She's right.  People have alwaystold stories--first orally, then written. God, being the first storyteller,creating the material universe with the Word, of course we respond to story.It's built in the very fiber of our being.
Ms. Cron outlines what she sees as the seven rules ofstory. Check out Grammar Girl's site to listen or read about them. I'm not sureI agree with every point. For instance, many of the oldest examples of writtenstories are not emotion based nor are they concerned with the protagonistsinner journey. However, her list is thought provoking and useful for the writer(or reader) of fiction. It would make for a fun springboard when writing collegeessays. I'm eager to read Cron's book, Wiredfor Story. It sounds like a valuable and interesting book.
*"New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989,Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches ofChrist in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rightsreserved."