The literary term symbol is like an allusion placed in an image, action, thing or person ("images and symbols"). Symbols may be hard for readers to discover. It can be seen with the eye or not visible. One source described it as "a word or object that stands for another word or object" ("Symbol"). A Handbook to Literature states that "a symbol is something that is itself and also stands for something else" (509).

Nathaniel Hawthorne is well known for using symbols of nature in many of his stories. In My Kinsman, Major Molineux, lead character, young Robin, comes to town with the expectation of a distant relative handing him a silver spoon. In this story Hawthorne uses the light and dark to represent good and evil. When Robin first arrives in town "It was near nine o'clock of a moonlight...