At least you look for and SEE symbols. Imagine working on an MA in Literature and having difficulty remembering to look beyond the surface! The only example that comes to mind this early is from adolescence, but it speaks volumes: I was 17 and could recite entire paragraphs from any of the Narnia books, I'd read them so many times, and yet when my English teacher blithely mentioned that Aslan was a Christ figure, I was gobsmacked. I had never, ever, in all those years and all those readings, picked up on that. *sigh*