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Q&A Sometimes a banana is just a banana

Often reading analyses of books and films, I find that the analytics derive conclusions from the specific food or beverage that a character consumes. The food appears to always be symbolic of somet...

6 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:36Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/42938
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:07:46Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/42938
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T11:07:46Z (almost 5 years ago)
Often reading analyses of books and films, I find that the analytics derive conclusions from the specific food or beverage that a character consumes. The food appears to _always_ be symbolic of something.

Now, I'm not completely oblivious to what food says about a character. But here's the problem: in my fantasy novel, I have people eating fruit, decorating rooms with flowers, using plants in metaphors - I'm giving flora a strong presence, because I want to emphasise the society's strong bond to the earth and the earth's natural cycles. So, I am, in fact, using fruit as a symbol.

But then, exactly because that's how I use fruit, my character might be eating a banana because a banana is what's in season. No phallic subtext intended.

Which leads me to the question - can a banana ever be just a banana? Or do I always need to be aware of _all_ the messages each bit of food brings with it, and write under those constraints?

(This question is not specific to bananas. Freud just made bananas funny.)

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-03-04T00:20:06Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 55