Symbolism

        Symbolism is the use of concrete objects to represent abstract ideas and emotions. Symbolism can be found in the story The Robber Bridegroom by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. An example of symbolism is the ring that was on the finger of the maiden that the robbers chopped up and killed. The robbers noticed the ring and chopped her whole finger off with an ax because they couldn't seem to get it off. When they did it flew off into the air, over the barrel the bride was hiding behind, and just happened to land into her lap. The bride didn't listen to the bird and went into the house anyway because she thought nothing of it. It was the moment the finger landed in the bride's lap that she had come the realization that she was soon to be married to a horrifying man. I think the ring was somewhat symbolic because the bride was supposed to be married to the robber bridegroom and when you get married you exchange rings.  It represented the what the future held if she would have went through with the wedding.