Metaphors: A Common Ground Social media limits users to a mere one hundred and forty characters. Science and technology are introducing unfathomable topics and ideas almost every single day. In a society of ever-changing technology, medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and social media, it is becoming increasingly difficult to convey ideas accurately to the target audience. A common fix to this issue is the implementation of metaphors. Carol Reeves discusses metaphors and their applications to science in The Language of Science. Metaphors are a type of analogy that compares two different ideas that have a few similar characteristics. Reeves uses the terminology “informing domain” and “target domain” to break down the mechanics of a metaphor (Reeves 22). The informing domain is an idea readers already understand and can relate to. The informing domain aids readers in understanding a broader, less recognizable topic, the target domain (Reeves 22). In the common metaphor, “I’m heartbroken”, “broken” or “to break” is the informing …show more content…
domain. Most members of the target audience have seen something broken and know the common effects such as a loss of function. The target domain is the feeling the person is having after an event. By using the term “heartbroken,” the audience can infer that an event had emotionally devastating effects on a person by likening the feeling to how it might feel if their heart was actually broken. Reeves discusses the three main purposes metaphors serve in science: “models of processes and objects we cannot see, theories that explain and predict the behavior or action of processes and objects, and [a tool] to help scientists explain and communicate complex ideas (Reeves 23). Metaphors are so deep-rooted and widely accepted in science that some metaphorical phrases are often not recognized as such. Reeves discusses the ball-and-stick atomic model as a metaphor used as a model for objects we cannot see (Reeves 25). Students across the world are taught about molecular structures of compounds such as H2O using the ball-and-stick model. In this model, each element is likened to a ball. In H2O, three balls would be pictured: two hydrogen balls and one oxygen ball. “Sticks” connect each of the “balls”. This model illustrates to students the components of different compounds, the chemical bonds, the spherical nature of the atoms, and the distance between each of the atoms (Reeves 26). Students could get caught up in this model and not remember its metaphorical nature; atoms, in reality, are not perfect spheres and physical rods do not connect them. Metaphors are also used as a mean to explain theories scientists have about various phenomena, especially those unseen.
Reeves uses the example of Johanes Kepler who believed the universe acted like a machine (Reeves 26). By likening the vast, complex universe to a machine, Kepler is better equipped to explain his predictions about the behaviors of the universe. A common place to look for scientific metaphors is a school. In order to understand new and difficult scientific concepts, students need to make connections to their own lives (Reeves 30). It may be difficult to visualize or get past the wording of the DNA structure, a double helix, but when it is compared to a spiral staircase, students begin to picture it. Regardless of the context or purpose, metaphors are essential to communicating in the scientific world. They create a common ground and starting point for an audience to understand and accurately interpret new
ideas.
An example of a metaphor in “Four Directions” is when Waverly relates her relationship with her mother to that of a horse and rabbit. “And that’s what she is. A Horse, born in 1918, destined to be obstinate and frank to the point of tactlessness. She and I make a bad combination, because I’m a Rabbit, born in 1951” (167).
As well, metaphors exists everywhere. They influence the way we process information in our minds. Without the idea of comparison in order to achieve a better understanding of material, everything would be abstract and the way we perceive the information would be completely
While discussing the unknown frontier that scientists must endure, Barry describes a “wilderness region” that is unfamiliar and new. He continues to say that scientists venture “through the looking glass” into a new frontier. These devices help to create familiar ideas that the audience will understand in an unfamiliar situation. A simile used to compare research to a “crystal” by explaining that “probing” was to “ precipitate an order out of chaos,” much like a crystalline structure forms an ordered structure. Finally, Berry implements a metaphor in order to describe what follows a discovery. He describes “a flood of colleagues” that “ pave roads over the path laid.” This metaphor describes how science continuously changes, one discovery after another while ultimately communicating the patience and curiosity a scientist must have. The culmination of these figurative devices teach a new way of an audience that is unfamiliar with the author's theme.
Figurative Language:.. & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & -"But I could not forget my brownish-red nubbin where one leg should have been, and a left side that looked like the crackling of a roast." (Pg.117) - "I took to teaching like a duck to water" (pg.116) & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; Metaphor & nbsp; -"To me a boy is a green apple." ( pg.116 ) Tone:.. The author wants the reader to take another look at Dunstan from a different angle. Seeing that no one has the perfect life. Mood:.. The reader is a bit shocked to find that Dunstan has acted in such a non-approving way.
For centuries humans have been drawing parallels to help explain or understand different concepts. These parallels, or allegories, tell a simple story and their purpose is to use another point of view to help guide individuals into the correct line of thought. “The only stable element in a literary work is its words, which if one knows the language in which it is written, have a meaning. The significance of that meaning is what may be called allegory. ”(Bloomfield)
In the short story “The Metaphor”, author Budge Wilson depicted a story about a girl named Charlotte discovering her own life through her teenage years. Throughout the duration of the story, Charlotte had moved from a shadow of her mother to becoming the unique and distinct herself today. It was evident that Charlotte was aware of her own thoughts and values for the first time when she wrote a metaphor describing Miss Hancock; an individual which no one around her loved.
Metaphors can be defined as those concepts where a term is used to portray a different meaning in a phrase than what it literary means. Additionally, metaphors are also used to make rhetorical statements where one is speaking of something else but by the use of words that do not have the same meaning. Moreover, metaphors can be used when one is trying to compare two different items with different meanings to portray the same meaning in describing something (Arduini 83). The book “Their eyes were watching God” has several metaphors, which have different analyses.
The way Anthony Doerr uses his writing structure of metaphors is to strive complexity, toward questions, and away from stereotype. From the national post says,
... A metaphor, used as a communication skill, is best described in a political way. Think of Reagan’s Voodoo economics, or Bill Clinton building a bridge to the 21st century. Politicians can easily scam an ignorant voter, should one not understand a metaphor. For example: Clinton refers to building a bridge, but does not tell us with which tools he intends to build it with. This particular concept is valid alone for the above reason. Whether you are talking to a teacher or watching television, metaphors need to understand.
There are many things in life that are hard to explain within themselves, which is why people often use metaphors to expand on their speech. Whether it is a poet comparing their love to a rose or a woman comparing a man to a dog, almost everyone uses metaphors in their everyday language. Many good examples of metaphors in everyday writing are found in August Wilson's play, Fences. In this play there are also many ways that the characters use "fences" as both figurative and literal terms. All these forms of writing really expand on the story and help people to understand the characters much better.
I recently read the book Metaphors We Live By written by Lakoff and Johnson. I had always thought that metaphors, when used to illustrate logical, objective arguments, poetical flourishes, the icing on the cake, the supporting cast but never the star. I'm now convinced otherwise.
Carlson (1996) claims that one of the most challenging aspects of the counselling process is helping clients understand and explore their intangible thoughts and feelings, and express them with tangible words. In these cases metaphors prove to be useful tools for helping clients access emotions that may have been previously unexpressed or unexplored. Fox (1989), noted that metaphors
Metaphor is comparing two ideas to get a clear understanding. A metaphor tells a story by making a connection to two different objects with a similarity between them, the only difference, like Orson Scott Card said, is that metaphors can tell this story in a simple sentence. While metaphors are no more than an abstract play on words, they create an interpretation of the meaning of their statement. Metaphors have become so common in everyday language that they are sometimes difficult to spot.
3. Sharp like the blade of a knife – simile is a figure of speech that compares two words or subjects using like or as. Where there’s a will there’s a way – metaphor is a figure of speech that says something is something else. This is saying that with determination you can over come an obstacle.