I happen to be reading this right now and they have just started out!

I agree. Some people DO take symbolism way too far and allow it to dominate the story to the extent that conversations miss the story itself and focus on what it could mean. It can get very heavy-handed and unwieldy very quickly.

I personally am the worst at reading with symbolism. I have a BA in lit so I can do it, but I mostly just care about the story! Now that I've finished my PhD (in rhetoric and composition), I've been reading thrillers and mysteries. I love reading like it's mindless TV sometimes. Book snobs would hate me lol.

The thing about symbolism is that it doesn't have to mean what the author intends it to mean. Authors don't necessarily sit down and think about each item in the scene and what it symbolizes.

When thinking and writing about symbolism, you can make your own connections. You can say that the snowball represents loneliness or the snowball represents masturbation as long as you can argue it and give examples of why you think that.

Symbolism is about metaphor... identifying things that represent other things and discussing how they deepen the meaning of the story. Of course it's just a snowball. But you can think of it in more ways and the story can become more meaningful. You aren't limited to one meaning... there can be many.