This book is just a lame excuse for some English professor to ramble on and on about literature in the most uninteresting way possible. This entire book can be summarized in one sentence: ANYTHING CAN BE A SYMBOL. The author could have literally just written that down on a piece of paper and published it and it would have had the same effect as this book. Also, the funnier the author tries to be, the worse it gets. I wanted to throw my copy in the garbage after I finished this awfully dull and unhelpful book.