Symbolism
One symbolic element of the demonstrations of the Velvet Revolution was the jingling of keys. The practice had a double meaning—it not only symbolized the unlocking of doors, but was the demonstrators' way of telling the Communists, "Goodbye, it's time to go home."
A commemorative 2 Euro coin was issued by Slovakia on 17 November 2009, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. The coin depicts a bell with a key adjoining the clapper, reflecting the symbolic role of keys in the revolution. Ursula LeGuin wrote a short story, "Unlocking the Air," in which the jingling of keys played a central role in the liberation of a fictional country, Orsinia.
Read more about this topic: Velvet Revolution
Famous quotes containing the word symbolism:
“...I remembered the rose bush that had reached a thorny branch out through the ragged fence, and caught my dress, detaining me when I would have passed on. And again the symbolism of it all came over me. These memories and visions of the poor—they were the clutch of the thorns. Social workers have all felt it. It holds them to their work, because the thorns curve backward, and one cannot pull away.”
—Albion Fellows Bacon (1865–1933)