Symbols and Signs by Vladimir Nabokov, analysis and reaction.
(Short Story) Symbols and Signs by Vladimir Nabokov. (Reaction) Signs and Symbols by: Antonio Conejos. Symbols and signs deals with individuals who are at ...
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 06 Jul 2012 (Short Story) Symbols and Signs by Vladimir Nabokov
(Reaction) Signs and Symbols by: Antonio Conejos
Symbols and signs deals with individuals who are at a loss to explain the world around them. The trick of Nabokov's story is how this premise is explored through the differences between the people who cannot understand the world.
On one hand we have the unnamed son. His is a world where everything is loaded with meaning. Indeed, it is in the very minutiae of life that he obsessively focuses on, Everything is a cipher and of everything he is the theme.
On the other hand, the unnamed parents live in a world where nothing has meaning. They have never integrated into American society...

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Thus, Symbols and Signs illustrates through comparison and contrast how sane and disturbed alike see the true state of the world as meangingless.

An innocuous enough short story upon first reading but its implications are quite daring once the story has been explored.

An online copy of Nabokov's work can be found  here.

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