Some of them are designed to suit each sex for the role it plays in reproduction, while others exist to help us tell each other apart and to aid in our mutual attraction. Sexual dimorphism is the scientific term for physical differences between males and females of a species.
Symbolism and Figurative Language. In literature, a symbol is a person, place, thing, or event that has a meaning larger than itself. A symbol has a literal meaning as well as an abstract meaning. A literal meaning is a symbolâs unimaginative, âboringâ meaning. An abstract meaning is a symbolâs âmeaning larger than itself.â This meaning is what the symbol stands for and represents. There are many symbols that we are probably familiar with.
Figurative language refers to language not used literallyâit is used abstractly, indirectly, and often evocatively. The evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherized upon a table. Here we have an evening (a thing), spreading (an action), a patient (thing), etherizing (an action), and a table (thing).