Abstract
Sherwood Anderson is an important American novelist and short-story writer of the early twentieth century. The Egg, one of Sherwood Anderson’s best short stories, is highly symbolic. The thesis attempts to analyze the use of symbolism in the work, including the various symbolic meanings of the central image, the egg and the main character, the father, and causes of the tragedy of the father.
Keywords   The Egg  Symbolism  Grotesque Character 

舍伍德•安德森是二十世纪初一位重要的美国作家。《鸡蛋》作为安德森最佳的短篇小说之一，颇具象征意味。本文试图在前人研究的基础上，从象征主义的角度，分析作品中所采用的象征手法，包括中心意象“鸡蛋”的多重象征意义以及主要人物形象父亲的象征意义,并通过这些象征的分析来阐释小说中父亲悲剧命运的成因。
关键词  《鸡蛋》  象征主义   畸形人物   

Sherwood Anderson was born in Camden, Ohio in 1876. He left school at 14 and after various jobs served in the Spanish-American War. After leaving the US Army, he became a successful advertising man and later a manager of a paint factory in Elyria, Ohio. Dissatisfied with his life, however, Anderson abandoned both his job and his family and went to Chicago to become a writer.
In 1916, Anderson published his first novel Windy McPherson’s Son and Marching Men the next year. But his real success came when he published Winesburg, Ohio in 1919. This collection of short stories was an immediate success and contributed to his distinctive position in American literature. He later wrote more short stories and published collections such as The Triumph of the Egg (1921), Horses and Men (1923), and Death in the Woods (1933); and novels like Poor White (1920), Many Marriages (1923), Dark Laughter (1925) and Kit Brandon (1936).