Upon successful completion of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Distinguish a symbol from other human artifacts and behaviors, and explain some of the ways in which symbols are essential to human culture.
2. Apply some of the eight questions about meaning to a familiar cultural symbol.
3. Identify the layers of meaning in speech, from phonemes to metaphors.
4. Apply Turner's three questions to discover a symbol's meaning and follow his three steps to infer meaning when the informants can't explain it.
5. Explain how to recognize a key symbol.
6. Identify and interpret the ritual gestures in a civil ceremony, such as the proceedings in a courtroom.
7. Detect examples of worldview, root metaphor, and key scenario in your native culture.