What is a Symbol?

Firefly is one of those shows where the episodes that do not directly relate to the season plot have some sort of overarching message that is explored and reflected in the plot of the particular episode, and the subplots.  In Jaynestown, the lesson of the day is that a symbol is more than the sum of its parts. Each time I’ve seen this episode, my favorite line is always when River is holding the Bible pages and she says, “I took these out of your symbol and they became paper.”  Not only is it funny, but it emphasizes that a symbol is not powerful inherently.  The Bible after all is just paper.  No one worships paper or Staples would be some sort of holy place.  Instead, the value of the Bible is what people attribute to it, and the meaning and faith that it represents.  Interestingly, River wants to try to ‘fix’ the symbol, but her request shows that she still does not understand what the Shepherd was trying to explain to her.  The symbol is still intact despite the fact that the physical object is broken, but River seems to believe that her destruction of the Bible has destroyed the Shepherd’s symbol.  River’s mistake is the same mistake Jayne makes at the end of the episode.  He can’t grasp why the mudders would worship him even after they heard the true story.  He can’t see how the Hero transcends his own self, that in fact, the Hero is a separate entity entirely from himself.  Jayne may be a selfish thief who accidentally helped the mudders, but the Hero’s power is in his story, not in the physical body that first inspired the story.  That is what Mal means when he says the mudders just need something to believe in.  In reality, the perceptions and beliefs of people are stronger than the objects that inspired them.