Metaphors We Live By

Metaphors aren't just a device of language.  They are part of everyday life in a bigger way than I realised.  

There are everyday concepts that are metaphorical and structure our perceptions, thoughts and actions.  ARGUMENT IS WAR is a great example given by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in An Introduction to Literary Language (1988).  

"Your claims are indefensible.  He attacked every week point in my argument.
I've never won an argument with him.
You disagree?  Okay, shoot!
He shot down all of my arguments" p 81.

See how we talk and think about arguments in terms of war?  This is a metaphorical concept that we live by in our culture, which structures the entire way we perceive arguing.  

The second part of this idea really grabbed my attention.  Imagine a culture where arguments aren't viewed in terms of war, but rather as a dance.  Just picture it! Instead of warring opponents, the participants are performers - harmonious, balanced, aesthetically pleasing.  

We would find it weird to even call what they are doing "arguing".  It's so different to our perception of what an argument is.  That's because in our culture, we have a discourse form structured in terms of war, not dance.  

"The concept is metaphorically structured, the activity is metaphorically structured, and, consequently, the language is metaphorically structured" p 82.  

Lakoff and Johnson provide more excellent examples to help you grasp the idea.  As I read on, I was surprised by how invisible and ingrained these metaphors are.  I use them constantly!  They are just part of the way our culture perceives the world. 

"Theories and Arguments are Buildings:
Is that the foundation for your theory?
We need to construct a strong argument for that.
So far we have put together only a framework of the theory" p 82

"Understanding is Seeing:
I see what you're saying.
It looks different from my point of view.
Now I've got the whole picture" p 84. 

"Love is a Patient:
They have a strong, healthy marriage.
The marriage is dead - it can't be revived.
It's a tired affair" p 85. 

"Significant is Big:
He's a giant among writers.
That's the biggest idea to hit advertising in years.
It was only a small crime.
His accomplishments tower over those of lesser men" p 86. 

"Emotional Effect is Physical Contact:
His mother's death hit him hard.
That really made an impression on me.
I was touched by his remark.
That blew me away" p 86. 

"Life is a Container:
Life is empty for him.
Get the most out of life.Live your life to the fullest" p 87.

This read was eye-opening and quite beautiful.  The metaphors that structure our cultural perceptions can be thoughtprovoking when you stop to consider them.  

Bibliography:

Scholes, Robert, Comley, Nancy R., and Ulmer, Gregory L.  1988.  An Introduction to Literary Language.  New York: St Martin's Press.  

Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time

I've been desensitised to war stories.  I can read or watch them with the same level of emotion as drinking a glass of water.  But Slaughterhouse Five changed my apathy and made me feel something.  

"LISTEN: Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time."

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut is a contemporary classic that tells the surreal and poignant story of Billy Pilgrim, a soldier, optometrist and time-traveller.    Billy's story centres around the 1945 bombing of Dresden, a point in time he seems never able to escape.  His life flashes forwards and backwards in apparent chaos, sometimes with fantastical sidetracks that caused me to question reality and review my attitudes towards the causes and value of war and love.

At times this novel is dawdlingly slow and at others hectic and suspenseful.  But it always provides an insanely fresh interpretation of topics that have grown dusty and clichéd.  I enjoyed the experience of being reawakened to the emotional impact of subjects so over-analysed they grew helpless to inspire feeling from modern readers.

The narrative voice of Slaughterhouse Five is simple and eccentric, succeeding in lullabying its reader into a dreamlike mood - much like Billy himself who is passive to the twists and turns of his bizarre fate.  The continually repeated phrases act as fingerposts in Billy's life, so strange and yet always reimagining the same images and scenes again and again.  In this way, the narrative structure reflects the cyclical rollercoaster of its readers' own lives.  This short book manages to encompass so much of life.

I was impacted by Vonnegut's depiction of post traumatic stress disorder.  There are so many interpretations of Billy's reality, but I found that looking past the question of fact versus fiction, his time travel was effective in unpacking the experience of PTSD in a way that allowed me to empathise.  Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time, but he can never escape it.

I realise reading Slaughterhouse Five has expanded my understanding and perception of many topics.  Its universality and evocation of emotional empathy makes it moving and memorable.