While reading the story "Revelation", the reader is confronted with a main character, Mrs. Turpin, that separates herself from others by a scale of social division that she has both invented and justified in her own mind. The scale places her above both "Niggers" and "White Trash" causing her to have illusions that she is superior and more blessed by God. When confronted by a young college student in the doctor's office, she is blessed by an unwanted image of herself that leads to a self-revelation. This causes her to realize, that in God's eyes, she is no better or worse than the classes she has placed herself above and below in her scale. By the use of symbolism in this story, the writer provides subtle images to the reader about the self-revelation that the character, Mrs. Turpin, is about to be faced with.
Symbolism is use of symbols by a writer to portray multiple meanings with fewer words. This allows the writer to say more while writing less and to draw a reader's attention a little closer to the meaning or emotion that he or she is trying to express. These symbols can be one of two types, conventional symbols or literary/ contextual symbols. Conventional symbols are the type that may be recognized universally as a symbol, for example a Christian cross, or a nation's flag. However a literary/ contextual symbol exists only within the story and can be recognized as a symbol only within the parameters of the story. Symbols are not always recognizable to every reader, but it is better to miss a symbol than to see one .
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where only the literal is meant. A writer may also use a fixed or single meaning for a description or narration in a story, which makes it an Allegory instead of a symbol. A writer may make his or her work less suggestive by using ideas or points of view with meanings that are very specific or restrictive, thus making the story more definitive.
