Introduction
The short story “Signs & Symbols” by Nabokov uses the idea of “madness” and ‘insanity’ to create the story’s conflict and question the boundaries between reality and insanity. Nabokov uses the familiar motif of insanity in an unfamiliar way: not just to convey the result of an unnerving, disquieting, even infuriating reality, but also to comment on its hypocrisies.
Symbolizing modern man’s alienation from the goals of a mechanized society that emphasizes humanistic values, insanity seems to be an effective method of challenging the social order. The essay will examine and discuss the usage of symbols and images about the actions and thoughts of the main characters and their meaning for the readers. Using vivid images and symbols, Nabokov gives readers only some hints about the story conflict and leaves it to readers to interpret the meaning and significance of the symbols.
The World of Insanity
Nabokov uses the world of insanity and unique symbols as the main channels of communication between real and sane worlds. The boy’s disease, “referential mania”, represents the world of insanity and can be interpreted as a symbol of something strange that happened in the family many years ago. Nabokov does not retell the story of the family but he points out that there is a mystery about the boy’s birthday and a ‘conspicuous’ birthmark of his father.
“The vein on the side of his bald head where there was a large birthmark stood out conspicuously” (Nabokov n.d.). Nabokov unveils that there is a close link between insanity and something strange or fearful that happened in the family many years ago. It is precisely the pathology of madness, a metaphor for the disabling and disorienting threats to individuality inherent in contemporary society.
Conformity and Nonconformity, Sanity and Insanity, Madness and Insight
The novel is replete with images of madness, ranging from the universal (the bureaucratized institutions that demand complete conformity, opposed that the distinction between conformity and nonconformity, sanity and insanity, madness, and insight, was not always very clear. Nabokov underlines: “Coinciding with a long convalescence after pneumonia when those little phobias of his which his parents had stubbornly regarded as the eccentricities of a prodigiously gifted child hardened” (Nabokov n.d.).
Nabokov conceives of madness as a struggle for liberation from false attitudes and values, an encounter with primary feelings and impulses that constitutes a possibility for the emergence of the “true self” hidden from the false outer being, whose chief function is an adjustment to the demands of society and the family.
Using unique images of a gifted child, Nabokov depicts a system of organized and absolute illogic. He writes: “Age six – that was when he drew wonderful birds with human hands and feet and suffered from insomnia like a grown-up man. His cousin, now a famous chess player” (Nabokov n.d.). Nabokov contrasts and parallels the world of insanity and reality using an image of a gifted child and personal success. He evaluates the truth of insanity as being treated for his mental and physical illnesses.
The Spokesperson for the Peculiar Insanity
Nabokov writes about the most excruciatingly painful things, including “the shame, the pity, the humiliating difficulties, the ugly, vicious, backward children he was within that special school.” But Nabokov, armed with schizophrenia, takes an absurd, distorted, wildly funny framework which is ultimately anesthetic. As the victim not only of technology but also of historical schizophrenia, Nabokov is indeed the spokesperson for the peculiar insanity of the contemporary age.
It is easy to see how, in a world as devoid of meaning as the one that all of these characters inhabit, a world modeled closely on the real modern world, madness is both a legitimate response and an effective challenge to the superficial sanity of the social order and the historical process. Nabokov writes: “Clouds in the staring sky transmit to one another, using slow signs, incredibly detailed information regarding him” (Nabokov n.d.).
Only the person out of step with society has an appropriate vantage point from which to view its failings; only the person who fails to obey the institutions that mandate certain behaviors can appreciate their rigidity and the consequences of nonconformity. And only those who are victims of the system can bring about real reforms in it.
The Theme of Madness and Sanity
From the very beginning, Nabokov gives readers hints about something terrible and inevitable. He uses specific symbols and signs to unveil a tragedy and possible death. Two phone calls increase emotional tension and create a story conflict. Taken together, all of these symbols emphasize the underlying principle of ironic contrast and the reason for the novel’s universal appeal: that in the contemporary world, madness is sanity and sanity is madness. It is the inmates who are sane, yet they must sign themselves into the institution as “voluntary” admissions to learn that.
The order is chaos, and the random natural elements of the world outside provide the only real meaning and order in life. “The telephone rang. It was an unusual hour for their telephone to ring. Having more English than he did, it was she who attended to calls” (Nabokov, n.d.). It is possible to say that a mistake can cause panic and fear.
The theme of madness and sanity is unveiled in opposition to society and its norms. Nabokov develops the character of the insane son characters to show readers that their rationalism is superficial; it is fed, or rather led, by deeply irrational lusts. It is possible to assume that old parents are waiting for bad news and the third call is from the hospital. This call could inform parents about the death of their son. As a result, these characters are ultimately self-defeated. “He had got to crab apple when the telephone rang again” (Nabokov, n.d.). Using phone calls, Nabokov underlines that madness is not a natural state but it influences the perception of reality.
Summary
In sum, Nabokov exploits vivid images and symbols to impress a reader and make a narration more vivid, colorful, and philosophically valued. The most impressive is that Nabokov questions the problems of individual reality confronted with the choice of the society embodied in its traditions and perceptions. The purpose of apparent disorder is to attract readers’ attention to the most important elements of the novel and force them to match these elements.
The insanity and madness help the author to create a picture of real life with its rises and falls, victories and defeats. A conflict between insanity and reality allows Nabokov to explore the sense of his unique character and soul at its most profound center. Involved in that is a certain amount of risk and challenge, of tension and attention, a certain presence that suggests how human beings might become as a people.
References
Nabokov, V. Signs & Symbols. N.d. Web.