Most symbols are related to things and people's behaviors are related to things. Whether it is the real world we live in or the fictitious world projected in the narrative, it is impossible to be without the existence of things. The world of things is a sign system whose meaning has yet to be revealed. The formation of the world of meaning in literary works (the "formation of the world of meaning" in the title of this article borrows Zhao Yiheng's idea) has a lot to do with the narration of things. Literature is the study of people, and this is a concept that we have long obeyed. But blindly emphasizing people will make us fall into a situation where people are over-valued but things are despised.

People are inseparable from things. Writers must write things when they write people, and even write people through writing things. If we despise things, we can’t understand many narratives related to things, such as characters’ clothing, food, and residences, which are all symbols that carry meaning. We even lack in-depth research on behaviors related to things, such as keeping, holding, sharing, gifting, consuming, caring, and destroying things. Time gaps and cultural differences have led us to fail to understand the narrative of things. The narrative of things is another discourse system besides language and writing. If you don't understand this system, there is no way to understand the meaning of the author's writing.