A study on metonymic expressions concerning humans in oscar wildes short stories with reference to vietnamese equivalents

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS A STUDY ON METONYMIC EXPRESSIONS CONCERNING HUMANS IN OSCAR WILDE’S SHORT STORIES WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ PHÉP HOÁN DỤ LIÊN QUAN ĐẾN CON NGƯỜI TRONG TRUYỆN NGẮN CỦA OSCAR WILDE CÓ THAM CHIẾU ĐẾN NGHĨA TƯƠNG ĐƯƠNG TRONG TIẾNG VIỆT) Student: DAO DAI VU Student code: 621236 Major: ENGLISH Supervisor: NGUYEN THI THU THUY, Ph.D Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “A STUDY ON METONYMIC EXPRESSIONS CONCERNING HUMANS IN OSCAR WILDE’S SHORT STORIES WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENTS” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2021 Đào Đại Vũ Approved by SUPERVISOR Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Ph.D Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First of all, I would like to thank the enthusiastic guidance of teachers at the Faculty of Education and Foreign Language those have helped me complete my BA thesis during the past months Thanks for providing me with both professional knowledge and learning spirit, which is the foundation to help me acquire practical knowledge during the process of completing this BA thesis I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Ph.D who gave me many detailed comments and reviews so that I can draw from my own experience through this BA thesis Thank you very much for your kind cooperation during this time helping me complete the BA thesis Besides, I would like take this opportunity to sincerely thank my family and my friends for being supportive of my education and always being by my side through hard times ii TABLE OF CONTENT PART 1: INTRODUCTION .1 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY .1 2.1 AIMS 2.2 OBJECTIVES RESEARCH QUESTIONS SCOPE OF THE STUDY SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY DESIGN OF THE STUDY PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER - LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES 1.2 REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.2.1 Definition of Metonymy .5 1.2.2 Characteristics of Metonymy 1.2.3 Classification of Metonymy 1.2.4 Features of Metonymy 1.2.5 Types of Metonymic Expressions concerning humans in English and Vietnamese 1.2.6 Metonymy Concerning Humans 15 1.2.7 Metonymy versus Other Ways of Meaning Transference 16 1.2.8 Oscar Wilde and the Short stories 16 CHAPTER - METHODOLOGY .18 2.1 RESEARCH METHOD 18 2.2 DATA COLLECTION 19 2.3 ANALYTICAL FAMEWORK 19 2.4 SUMMARY 22 CHAPTER - FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS .23 3.1 METONYMIC EXPRESSIONS CONCERNING HUMANS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 23 3.1.1 The Part for the Whole 23 3.1.2 Institution for People 26 iii 3.1.3 The Concrete for Abstract 26 3.1.4 Container for People Contained 29 3.1.5 Color for People 30 3.1.6 Object Used for User 31 3.1.7 Author for His Work 32 3.2 SIMILARITIES 32 3.3 DIFFERENCES 33 3.4 FEATURES OF METONYMY 34 3.4.1 Syntactic features 34 3.4.2 Semantic features 37 3.5 SUMMARY 38 PART 3: CONCLUSION 39 RECAPITULATION .39 CONCLUDING REMARKS 39 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY 41 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY .42 REFERENCES .43 APPENDIX 45 iv ABSTRACT The cognitive linguistics approach to metonymy provides an explanatorily elegant framework to account much for the underlying meaning In this paper, we identify and describe syntactic and semantic features of metonymic expressions in Oscar Wilde’s short stories with reference to Vietnamese equivalents We will be using comparison-contrast method and analytical method to analyze and examine metonymic expressions from “The Happy Prince”, “The Selfish Giant”, “The Nightingale and the Rose” by Oscar Wilde and some other literature works, “Chiếc lư đồng mắt cua”, “Chiếc Va-ly mới”, “Đi mở đường” by Nguyễn Tuân, “Chí Phèo” and by Nam Cao to clarify the similarities and differences of these metonymic expressions Through this study, we have found the similarities and differences in using metonymic expressions concerning humans between Oscar Wilde and some other authors and Vietnamese writers At the end, as the result, the study offers teachers and learners of English and Vietnamese a comprehensive perspective on metonymic expression in short stories concerning humans using a cognitive linguistics approach KEYWORDS: Metonymic expression, Metonymy, Human, Oscar Wilde, Short story v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ICM: Idealized cognitive model NP: Noun Phrase vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 2.1 Types of metonymy concerning humans Table 2.2 Syntactic Functions of Metonymic Expressions as Noun Phrases Table 2.3 Semantic feature: Metonymy as a Polysemous Phenomenon Table 3.1 Types of Metonymic Expressions Concerning Humans In English And Vietnamese works Table 3.2 Syntactic functions of the metonymic Noun Phrases in Oscar Wilde’s short story and Vietnamese short story Table 3.3 Polysemy of metonymic ‘Face’ Figure 3.1 Syntactic functions of the metonymic Noun Phrases in Oscar Wilde’s short story and Vietnamese short story Figure 3.2 Referential Meaning of Author-for-Work Metonymy vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY Along with poetry, music and other artistic works, short story has long been everyone’s spiritual food Short story not only brings pleasure and relaxation to our soul but it also expresses the spiritual depth of writer’s feelings and emotions The most important elements of short story are the selective details, large amount and the writing style with many hidden meanings, giving the work unspeakable depth However, short story readers sometimes find it hard to understand and to snatch the language of short stories There is a lot to while reading short stories because the authors always use a lot of rhetorical devices to make their work more valuable and worthwhile to read It is true that foreigners studying Vietnamese and Vietnamese learners of English find it difficult to comprehend the short story's directions and characters' moods using metonymic expressions As a result, understanding the metonymic mechanism in short stories will help readers to easily access the content of the works All the things above have aroused my interest in researching the topic: “A Study on Metonymic Expressions Concerning Humans in Oscar Wilde’s Short Stories with Reference to Vietnamese Equivalents” AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 2.1 AIMS The study is aimed at examining metonymic expressions concerning humans in Oscar Wilde’s short stories with reference to Vietnamese equivalents 2.2 OBJECTIVES This study is planed: - To identify and to describe syntactic and semantic features of metonymic expressions in Oscar Wilde’s short stories with reference to Vietnamese equivalents - To compare and contrast metonymic expressions concerning humans in Oscar Wilde’s short stories with reference to Vietnamese equivalents to clarify the similarities and differences of these metonymic expressions RESEARCH QUESTIONS What types of metonymic expressions concerning humans are used in English and Vietnamese stories? What are the similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features between English and Vietnamese metonymic expressions concerning humans? SCOPE OF THE STUDY This study will observe and describe some commonly used types of means for expressing metonymic expression concerning humans in Oscar Wilde’s short stories such as “The Happy Prince”, “The Selfish Giant”, “The Nightingale and the Rose” by Oscar Wilde, “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Thorn birds” by Colleen McCullough, “Chiếc lư đồng mắt cua”, “Chiếc Va-ly mới”, “Đi mở đường” by Nguyễn Tuân, “Chí Phèo” by Nam Cao SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The study offers teachers and learners of English and Vietnamese a comprehensive perspective on metonymic expression in short stories concerning humans using a cognitive linguistics approach Table 3.2 Syntactic functions of the metonymic Noun Phrases in Oscar Wilde’s short story and Vietnamese short story Function of Metonymic Occurrence Frequency Subject 12.5% Direct object 50% Subject complement 0% Prepositional object 37.5% Subject 50% Direct object 12.5% Subject complement 25% Prepositional object 12.5% NPs Oscar Wilde’s short story (8) Vietnamese short stories (8) Although there are not much data due to the lack of the amout of metonymic experssions in Oscar Wilde’s short stories, through the table 3.1 above, we can see that in Oscar Wilde’s short stories, he tend to use metonymic NP functioning as a Direct object (50%) and a Prepositional object (37.5%) more often than as a Subject (12.5%) and a Subject complement (0%) Otherwise, Vietnamese writers often use metonymic NP functioning as a Subject (50%) and sometimes or rarely use as a Direct object (12.5%), Prepositional object (12.5%) or Subject complement (25%) 36 3.4.2 Semantic features 3.4.2.1 Transfer of Metonymic Expressions’ Meanings Metonymy derives from the way human conceptualized the world The first way of meaning transfer in metonymy is the whole part configuration including the relations in an ICM as the whole and its elements The second way describe the relation between two elements within an ICM, the part-part configuration 3.4.2.2 Metonymy as a Referential Phenomenon Metonymy involves only one conceptual domain (mapping occurs within a single domain, not across domains) and is used primarily for reference This viewpoint shows the cognitive difference between metonymy and metaphor In metonymy, we can refer to one entity in a schema by referring to another entity in the same schema (30) He’s got a Picasso Picasso Picasso’s art works: - Portrait of Josep Cardona - Embrac - Pierrot and Colombina Picasso as artist: - Picasso’s conception of Art - Picasso’s techniques - Picasso’s role in Art history Figure 3.2 Referential Meaning of Author-for-Work Metonymy 37 3.4.2.3 Metonymy as a Polysemous Phenomenon The meaning of words can be extended from a small entity to a bigger one by metonymy, as in a part-for-whole relationship, or vice versa The result of this a word may have two or more senses that are related to each other This phenomenon of different semantic mappings (meanings) come from the same phonological form (word) is known as polysemous phenomenon Table 3.3 Polysemy of metonymic ‘Face’ Metonymic Metonymic Expression Relation Example People in general (49) We need some new faces around here FACE Appearance Personality (50) She's just a pretty face (51) There are an awful lot of faces out there in the audience 3.5 SUMMARY In this chapter, we have found out the used types of metonymic expressions concerning humans in Oscar Wilde’s short stories and its equivalents in Vietnamese, analyzed, identified and described syntactic and semantic features of metonymic expressions in Oscar Wilde’s short stories with reference to Vietnamese equivalents In addition, we have compared and contrasted metonymic expressions concerning humans in Oscar Wilde’s short stories with reference to Vietnamese equivalents to clarify the similarities and differences of these metonymic expressions All the findings and discussions in this chapter will contribute to the next part which is conclusion 38 PART 3: CONCLUSION RECAPITULATION This study is an attempt to examining metonymic expressions concerning humans in Oscar Wilde’s short stories with reference to Vietnamese equivalents The steps to conduct the research are clear and detailed as above, then the results are obtained through the process of describing, analyzing, comparing and contrasting the research contents from the English and Vietnamese literature works From there, the study proceeds to draw conclusions and recommendations for the topic CONCLUDING REMARKS Overall, after observing and analyzing, we have come to some result such as: The types of metonymic expressions concerning humans are used in English and Vietnamese stories:  The Part for the Whole  Institution for People  The Concrete for Abstract  Container for People Contained  Color for People  Object Used for User The similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features between English and Vietnamese metonymic expressions concerning humans:  Both have a great variety of noun phrase structures to encode the metonymic expressions 39  Both can have pre-modification and post-modification  In both languages we can find similar constituent members of noun phrases such as quantifiers, demonstratives, cardinals and adjectives  Metonymy is used in both languages to express many aspects related to human beings: their physical appearance, personalities, social class, occupations, activities, and their feelings and emotions - The conception of subject complement is found only in Vietnamese metonymic expressions Metonymy concerning humans appears less frequently in Oscar Wilde's short story than other expressive devices Oscar Wilde is unconcerned about metonymy His metonymies, on the other hand, have a lot of stylistic promise They achieve emotional consistency, which produces the illusion of the reader's presence in the literary universe Syntactically, we have showed that the major function of metonymy is referential which is fulfilled typically by noun phrase structures Semantically, metonymic expressions can make use of nearly all types of ICMs with relations between the source domain and target domain Metonymy, like metaphor and certain other tropes, is not just a figure of speech, but reflects an important part of the way people ordinarily conceptualize of themselves, events, and the everyday world Metonymy facilitates the understanding and application of contextual expressions, indirect speech acts, common gestures, and colloquial tautologies in dialogue However, the way people conceptualized the world much depends on the background knowledge and the culture of each country For example, America used to be familiar with the term ‘racism’ for a long time As a result, we often come across the mapping Color-for-People metonymy Likewise, Vietnamese people often use special 40 clothes according to their social class or their social position People in Viet Bac often wear ‘áo chàm’, a student is accustomed to the uniform ‘áo trắng’, a farmer is in ‘áo nâu’, and a worker usually wears ‘áo nâu’ Metonymy can present interesting challenges to all short story readers The comprehension process involves not only identifying the possible interpretation allowed by the grammar, but also using contextual clues to eliminate some interpretations Metonymy is also used to make sense of reference by association, so it forces the reader to work harder at making meaning in a text as well as in short story Considering a metonymic NP, the reader must have acquired knowledge of what they have referred to a predicate analysis, the ability to determine the properties of the implied meaning to the head noun In order to comprehend and to use metonymy successfully, good command of the language as well as social, political, and culture knowledge is necessary to Vietnamese learners of English LIMITATION OF THE STUDY Although the research has reached its aims, there were some unavoidable limitations The scope of this study was way too narrow to get enough information for researching Since the amount of metonymies concerning humans in Oscar Wilde’s short stories was not enough, we had to find metonymies in short stories and novels from different authors to complete this paper Because of that, data mining metonymic expressions in Oscar Wilde’s short stories and other authors took too much time This thesis was completed at the time when the COVID-19 epidemic was strongly spreading in society Thus, that was a rough and stressful time not only for me but for my family and my friends 41 Last but not least, there were some subjective reasons coming from me myself Due to the lack of ability in researching, observing information, planning and managing working time, studying time and free time, this study was finished in hurry RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY For a thorough insight into metonymy in general, metonymy concerning humans in particular in English and Vietnamese, the following issues should be further concentrated: - Syntactic and semantic features of metonymy in English literature works in comparing with metaphor - The effect and influence of cultural features on the way English and Vietnamese people concept the world through metonymy 42 REFERENCES George, L & Mark, J (1980) Metaphors We Live By Chicago: The University of Chicago Press George, L & Mark, J (2003) Metaphors We Live By Chicago: The University of Chicago Press Gibbs, W R (1999) Speaking and Thinking with Metonymy Klaus-Uwe Panther & Günter Radden, Metonymy in Language and Thoughts (pp 61-76) Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company Jeannette, L (2015) Metonymy, Hidden Shortcuts in Language, Thought and Communication Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Karl, B (1970) Oscar Wilde: The Critical Heritage New York: City University of New York Kövecses, Z (2002) Metaphor: A Practical Introduction Oxford: Oxford University Press Lin, W (2010) A Cognitive Approach to Metaphor and Metonymy related to the human body Kristianstad: Kristianstad University Lodge, D (1977) The Modes of Modern Writing London: Bloomsbury Publishing Lonanda, F (2013) The Use of Figurative Language in Characterization of The Nightingale And The Rose Short Story by Oscar Wilde Padang: English Department - Faculty of Humanities Andalas University Majeed, H S & Dabbagh, A L (2019) A Cognitive Analysis of Metaphor and Metonymy in Selected Passages from Oscar Wilde’s Short Stories Hawler: Salahaddin University 43 Margaret, M (1936) Gone with the Wind New York: Macmillan Inc Nguyễn Du (1820) Truyện Kiều Hanoi: Literature Publishing House Oscar, W (2007) The Happy Prince and Other Tales New York: Random House USA Inc Radden, G & Kövecses, Z (1999) Towards a Theory of Metonymy Klaus-Uwe Panther & Günter Radden, Metonymy in Language and Thoughts (pp 17-59) Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company Shakespeare, W (1599) Barbara A Mowat and Paul Werstine, Julius Caesar Tố Hữu (1954) Việt Bắc Hanoi: Literature Publishing House Trần Xuân Trưởng (2011) An Investigation into Metonymy Denoting Humans in English and Vietnamese Poetry Danang: University of Danang Twain, M (1884) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn London: Chatto & Windus Yatma, D R (2015) A study on figurative languages used in short stories written by O Henry Tulungagung: Institut Agama Islam Negeri Tulungagung Wierzbicka, A (1996) Semantics: Primes and Universal New York: Oxford University Press Zhao, Y F (2001) An Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press 44 APPENDIX LIST OF EXAMPLES CONTAINING METONYMIC EXPRESSION (1) We all live under the same roof – roof refers to the house (2) I have three mouths to feed – mouth refers to the people (3) The team needs some new blood if it’s going to win next season – new blood refers to the new people (4) Exxon has raised its prices again – Exxon refers to an American multinational oil and gas corporation (5) You will never get the university to agree to that – university refers to everyone (6) The Army wants to reinstitute the draft – Army refers to the leaders and people in the army (7) The Senate thinks abortion is immoral – Senate refers to the leaders of the Senate (8) I don’t approve of the government’s actions – government refers to the leaders of the government (9) From the cradle to the grave – cradle refers to the birth, grave refers to the death (10) My dear, you have all of my heart – heart refers to love (12) Can you give me a hand carrying this box up the stairs? – hand refers to helping, supporting (13) I couldn’t understand them because they spoke in their mother tongue – tongue refers to language (14) The New York Times always reports quickly and promptly – New York Times refers to reporters work in this organization (15) He groped for the door handle within the black – black refers to the dark 45 (16) Darkness was blacking out both sea and jungle – Darkness refers to the night (17) It’d be a black night with the rain – black refers to the dark (18) Rory shot her a black look – black refers to the gloomy emotion (19) He was black and blind with hatred of her – black refers to the indiscriminate (20) You had almost charmed away my black mood – black refers to the somber emotion (21) A black woman broadcaster – black refers to the dark skin (22) Black culture – black refers to belonging to a race of people who have dark skin; connected with black people (23) This has made new black investors wary – black refers to belonging to a race of people who have dark skin; connected with black people (24) Two black coffees, please – black refers to coffee without milk or coffee mate (25) The buses are on strike – buses refers to bus’ drivers (26) The sax has the flu today – sax refers to people playing the sax (27) The BLT is a lousy tipper – BLT refers to customers (28) The gun he hired wanted fifty grand – gun refers to the sniper (29) We need a better glove at third base – glove refers to the baseball player (30) He’s got a Picasso – Picasso refers to Picasso’s work (31) The New York Times always reports news quickly and promptly – New York Times refers to reporters work in this organization (32) We have to stop the hatred on black community – black refers to belonging to a race of people who have dark skin (33) He’s got a Monet – Monet refers to Monet’s work (34) Tất sống chung mái nhà – mái nhà refers to the house 46 (35) Bộ Y tế khuyến cáo người dân nên nhà vào thời điểm mùa dịch – Bộ Y tế refers to leaders of Ministry of Health (36) Anh hiến dâng tim cho Tổ Quốc Việt Nam – tim refers to life, everything (37) Cả trường tơi nghỉ dịch COVID-19 – trường refers to all the students and teachers in the school (38) Thật đau lòng phải chứng kiến đầu bạc tiễn đầu xanh – bạc refers to old people, xanh refers to young people (39) Cho gươm mời đến Thúc lang, Mặt chàm đổ, giường giẽ run – gươm refers to Thúc Sinh (40) Lê-nin bàn chờ đón Bác vào – Lê-nin refers to his works (41) This dish is very delicious – This dish refers to the food on the dish (42) The King has lost his crown – crown refers to the power (43) Tell me about that I’m all ears! – ears refers to paying the attention (44) Yesterday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh came to work with the White House – White House refers to leaders in the White House (45) Một trái tim lớn lao từ giã đời – trái tim refers to the person (46) Cha mẹ cô xây đắp mái nhà gồm người – mái nhà refers to the family (47) Mẹ tơi trụ cột gia đình – trụ cột refers to the person who runs the family (48) Cậu dựng lên đồ với đôi bàn tay trắng – đôi bàn tay refers to the budget (49) We need some new faces around here – faces refers to the people (50) She's just a pretty face – face refers to the people’s appearence (51) There are an awful lot of faces out there in the audience – faces refers to the people’s personality (52) Chúng ta cần mặt cho công ty – mặt refers to the people 47 (53) Cô khuôn mặt xinh đẹp – mặt refers to the people’s appearance (54) Trong khán đài có nhiều mặt xấu xí – mặt refers to the people’s personality (55) “His friends had gone away to Egypt six weeks before, but he had stayed behind, for he was in love with the most beautiful Reed He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her.” – slender waist refers to the Reed (56) “We have bread now!” – bread refers to the food (57) “Bốn môi tái nhạt ấy, vào phút thương mến tình già này, tơi thấy tươi sáng hẳn lên cịn dáng vẻ cặp mơi son trẻ tơ son hình tim.” – Bốn mơi tái nhạt refers to old people, cặp môi son trẻ tơ son hình tim refers to young people (58) “It’s not Flint’s ship, and Flin is dead, but I’ll tell you true, as you ask me-there are some of Flint’s hands aboard, worse luck for the rest of us.” – hands refer to the crew members of the ship (59) “But though I was so terrified by the idea of the seafaring man with one leg, I was far less afraid of the captain himself than anybody else who knew him There were nights when he took a deal more rum and water than his head would carry.” – head refers to the pirate (60) “My curiosity, in a sense, was stronger than my fear, for I could not remain where I was, but crept back to the bank again, whence, sheltering my head behind a bush of broom, I might command the road before our door.” – head refers to himself (61) “There was so much to be done, hardly any money to with it, not enough time, and only one pair of hands.” – only one pair of hands refers to the character Fia 48 (62) “I’m mighty glad Georgia waited ‘til after Christmas before it seceded.” – Georgia refers to citizens of Georgia (63) “It is winter, answered the swallow, and the chill snow will soon be here.” – chill snow refers to the death (64) “I am covered with fine gold … you must take it off, leaf by leaf, and give it to my poor; the living always think that gold can make them happy.” – fine gold refers to the richness and avarice (65) “Bring me the two most precious things in the city,” said God – two most precious things refers to the heart of the prince and the dead body of the swallow (66) “Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.” – ears refers to the attention (67) "He said he reckoned a body could reform the ole man with a shot-gun maybe" – body refers to the person (68) "I went and told the Widow about it, and she said the thing a body could get by praying for it was 'spiritual gifts'." – body refers to the person (69) “O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,” – vintage refer to wine (70) "Cái mặt Thị thực mỉa mai hóa cơng: ngắn người ta tưởng bề ngang bề dài, mà hai má lại hóp vào thật tai hại, má phinh phính mặt Thị lại hao hao mặt lợn, thứ mặt vốn nhiều người ta tưởng cổ Cái mũi vừa ngắn, vừa to, vừa đỏ, vừa sần sùi vỏ cam sành, bành bạnh muốn chen lẫn với môi cố to cho không thua mũi; có lẽ cố q chúng nứt nở rạn Ðã Thị lại ăn trầu thuốc,… 49 Người ta tránh Thị tránh vật tởm Ngoài ba mươi tuổi, Thị chưa có chồng" – mặt refers to the person, personality, appearance (71) “And now that I am dead they have set me up here so high that I can see all the ugliness and all the misery of my city” – city refers to citizen in the city (72) “Trong yên lặng mái nhà ngủ bị chìm hẳn vào đêm tỉnh xép, tơi nhìn khoảng có cánh the cũ, rủ bng mà lịng thấy se co hẳn lại.” - mái nhà refers to the family (73) They are not considered extraordinary because they are working class and they are blue collar and they’re not rich, pampered, coddled, white kids from Boston – blue collar refers to the workers (74) “Áo chàm đưa buổi phân ly Cầm tay biết nói hơm nay” – Áo chàm refers to the people of Viet Bac (75) “Sau rơm đống rạ, tơi nhìn thấy thấp thống nhiều bóng người mặc áo nâu.” – bóng người mặc áo nâu refers to farmers 50