Onions
Onions are used to symbolize the difference between reality and the facsimile that is presented through artistic imitation. The point is made that it is impossible for most people to truly recall the smell of an onion simply upon hearing the word onion; what is recalled is a symbolic recollection of onions as a concept rather than the memory of a genuine onion. This is the essential quality of experiencing what we read.
Lily Briscoe’s Painting
In Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse, an artist named Lily Briscoe is described as being as work on her latest painting. The author uses the fact that Woolf doesn’t “show” the painting to the reader, is only told about the process of its being painted in order to transform that painting into a broad-based symbol representing the very act of artistic creation.
Knife
A knife is only really a knife when it is engaged in the act of cutting. Otherwise, it is just a sharp piece of metal attached to a piece of wood. (Or, of course, simply a forged piece of metal.) The point here is that one can recognize a knife for what it is immediately, but its characteristics as a knife is only revealed through use: it is sharp enough to easily slice through meat or too dull to even break a rubber band. The same goes for character: one may recognize the essential quality of a character immediately, but only come to fully appreciate the more sharply defined aspects of that character as they are put to use.
Watch
An image of a watch is used as to illustrate a point in the text. A digital watch is pictured upside down showing the exact time as: 3:35. In its upside position, however, the numbers upside-down spell out the word “SEE.” The watch thus becomes a symbol for the relevance of perfect timing when it comes to revealing aspects of a character.
Orchestra Conductor
The image of the orchestra conductor is used by the author to symbolize the relationship between a reader and a work of fiction. The fiction must become real to the reader and this is situated as an orchestration of the fiction as a performance in our minds.
