a study on similes used in the novel david copperfield by charles dickens = nghiên cứu việc sử dụng biện pháp tỉ dụ trong tiểu thuyết david copperfield của charles dickens

Simile is a figure of speech used in general language as well as specialized language, in everyday conversations as well as literary, journalistic and promotional texts.. Therefore, the

UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

A STUDY ON SIMILES USED IN THE NOVEL DAVID COPPERFIELD BY CHARLES DICKENS

(Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng biện pháp tỉ dụ trong tiểu thuyết

David Copperfield của Charles Dickens)

MA MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

A STUDY ON SIMILES USED IN THE NOVEL DAVID COPPERFIELD BY CHARLES DICKENS

(Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng biện pháp tỉ dụ trong tiểu thuyết

David Copperfield của Charles Dickens)

MA MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Dr Hà Cẩm Tâm

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY i

ABSTRACT ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .vi

LIST OF TABLES ……… …vi

LIST OF CHARTS ……….vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Scope of the study 2

3 Aims of the study 2

4 Methods of the study …….…… 2

5 Organization of the study … ….…… 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……… 4

1.1 Word meaning……… ….4

1.1.1 The meaning of the word ……….….4

1.1.2 Collocation and contextual effects ……… 5

1.2 Meaning transference ……… 6

1.2.1 Metaphor ……… 6

1.2.2 Metonymy ……… 6

1.3 Contextual meaning ……… 8

1.3.1 Context……… 8

1.3.2 Co-text ……… 9

1.4 Simile……… ……… … 10

1.4.1 Definitions on similes ……… ……10

1.4.2 Components of simile ……… …… 11

1.4.3 Nature of simile ……….… 12

1.4.3.1 Simile as a figurative comparison ……… ……… … … 12

1.4.3.2 Simile and Metaphor ……… … 14

1.4.4 Functions of similes 16

1.4.4.1 Simile is used to create images ……… … 16

1.4.4.2 Simile has the function of decoration ……….……17

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY ……….…… 19

2.1 Research question ……… ………… … 19

2.2 Data collection ……….… … 19

2.3 Analytical framework……… …… ….… 20

2.3.1 “AS” simile ……….…… 20

2.3.2 “LIKE” simile ……….…… … 20

2.4 Data analysis and discussion ……….… 21

2.4.1 Simile in terms of structures ……….… 21

2.4.2 Simile in depicting characters’ features……… … 24

2.4.2.1 Vehicles as animals ……… …….……… ……… 26

2.4.2.2 Vehicles as man-made objects ……… …… ……… …….…… 30

2.4.2.3 Vehicles as supernatural beings……… ……… ……… 32

2.4.2.4 Vehicles as natural phenomena ……… 33

PART C: CONCLUSION……… 36

1 Main findings ……… 36

2 Implication of the study ……… 37

3 Suggestions for further study ……… …… 37

REFERENCES ……… … 38 APPENDIX ……….I

LIST OF TABLES

1 Table 1 Types of simile in depicting characters’ features in David Copperfield ……… 21

2 Table 2 Vehicles in simile of depicting character’s features ……… 24

LIST OF CHARTS

1 Chart 1 The frequency of simile in depicting characters’ features ……… 22

2 Chart 2 Vehicles of simile in depicting the characters’ features ……… …25

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Figurative language is always an interesting and mysterious phenomenon in language

in general and in literature in particular This special kind of language is widely used in any types of texts like literature, science, journals, advertisement, religion, politics or everyday language When somebody says that ―Crime is like a disease‖, it is when figurative language is being constructed Figurative language is especially common in literature because they can impose their power in this creative world Being considered one of the most common kinds of figures of speech, simile is a literary device employed by writers to increase the ability of literature to fascinate, trigger emotion, and even change the way we as human beings experience our world

As other figures of speech, it is often a challenge to gain a firm grasp on the ability to understand similes because their meaning is not just based on the literal meanings of certain words or phrases Because ―though a simile is easily recognized, it is not always easily understood: in most cases, the reader has to discover the aspects for the claimed similarity and this is the central problem in the interpretation of similes (Chippe & Kennedy 2001: 270-271) However, due to its appearance in different types of discourse in different fields, especially in literature, readers face a lot of difficulty that prevents them from being able to comprehensively understand the figurative meaning of simile as well as the implied message of a text

Simile is a figure of speech used in general language as well as specialized language, in everyday conversations as well as literary, journalistic and promotional texts Research on simile which is carried out within rhetoric (Mortara Garavei 2002 (251-252), literary studies (Wellek & Warren 1973: 186-211), linguistics and psycholinguistics (Ortony 1993: Bredin 1998) often discussed simile along with metaphor However, simile is still less investigated Therefore, the goal of this thesis is to consider simile as a figure of its own right, to illustrate some of its basic forms and functions through exploring how similes are constructed in literature in general and in the novel in particular

It is well known that Dickens‘s novels include various linguistic techniques and tropes that make his descriptions of characters, their backgrounds or surroundings more

graphic and real The novel David Copperfield is famous for Dickens‘s language with

humor and vivid style as he makes particular use of figurative devices such as simile to observe and describe the characters successfully

With these ideas in mind, I chose to study similes used in depicting features of the

characters in the novel David Copperfield by the famous English writer, Charles Dickens

with the hope to study the nature and the way to obtain deeper understanding on simile in order to demonstrate its strong power in the world of novel and to help gaining more

comprehensive understanding about the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

2 Scope of the study

Like other figure of speech, simile plays an indispensable part in literature However, literature is a broad field that it will be too ambitious to cover all the types of literature Thus, a focus that is paid attention to in my thesis is similes used in novel More

specifically, the novel David Copperfield written by Charles Dickens, a talented English

author is chosen In my study, I will focus on the use of simile in depicting features of the characters in this novel

3 Aims of the study

This study aims to investigate the characteristics of simile in the novel discourse

The objective of my study is:

- To investigate the use of similes in depicting the features of characters in the novel

David Copperfield

More details on the aimed objective of the study are discussed in Part 2, chapter 2 – The study

3 Methods of the study

As the thesis sets its main objective of investigating the characteristics of simile in English novel discourse The study was conducted in a deductive approach where data was collected from English literature to describe simile in a natural linguistics process

Therefore it is descriptive and explanatory research The techniques involved in data analysis are both qualitative and quantitative

The main points in the thesis are analyzed and discussed with the support of such methods

as analysis, synthesis and documentation

4 Organization of the study

The study consists of three main parts:

 Part I: Introduction This part introduces the relevant, the aims, the scope and methodology of the study

 Part 2: Development This part is composed of two chapters

- Chapter 1 is Literature Review which provided the theoretical background of the study Its focus was on introducing important concepts relevant to the topic of the thesis This chapter gave a general picture of simile

- Chapter 2 is the main focus of the study which investigates similes used in depicting features of the characters in the novel David Copperfield In this chapter, the research design applied in the study was reported and the results of the studies were presented

 Part 3 is the conclusion of the study which summarized the issues addressed

in the main part and offered implications for teaching as well as further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Word meaning

1.1.1 The meaning of the word

There has been quite a number of attempt designed to define what the meaning of

the word is Acccording to Nguyen Hoa (2004: 67) ―words are regarded as the smallest

indivisible meaningful units of a language which can operate independently‖ And more

detailed, he defined ―the meaning of a word reflects reality or express human

conceptualization of reality, as it were‖ It is generally agreed that the words, phrases and

sentences of language have meanings and sentences are made up of words and that the

meaning of a sentence is the function of the meaning of the words of which it is made up

In the word meaning, it is necessary to distinguish two types of meaning, denotation (or

conceptual meaning) and connotation

Nguyen Hoa (2004: 98) states that ―Denotation is the ability of a word or

expression to identify all the objects covered by a word These objects, which are diverse

in reality, do share certain features relevant enough to be identified as covered by a word‖

Denotation includes conceptual and referential meanings Denotation exists by virtue of

what it refers to As we know, one of the functions of words is to denote things, concepts

and so on For example, the word ―computer‖ is used to denote a wide range of computing

machines in different shapes and size, which may be called computer

However, a word may convey certain affective or evaluative associations, generally

referred to as connotation Nguyen Hoa (2004: 99, 100) states that connotation arises as

words become associated with certain characteristics of the items to which they refer to,

over and above its purely conceptual content This kind of meaning is rather unstable They

vary considerably according to culture, historical period and the experience of the

individual Connotation including stylistic, affective, evaluative, and intensifying, is the

pragmatic communicative value the words acquires by virtue of where, when, how, and by

whom, for what purpose and in what context it is or may be used This kind of meaning

may fall into:

- Stylistic: when associations at work concern the situation in which the word is uttered, the social circumstances (formal, familiar …), the social relationships between the interlocutors (polite, rough), and the type of purpose of communication this connotation is stylistic

- An emotional or affective connotation is acquired by the word as a result of its frequent use in contexts corresponding to emotional situations or because the referent conceptualized and named in the denotative meaning is associated with emotion

- Evaluative connotation expresses approval or disapproval

- Intensifying connotation which is expressive and emphatic

In short, connotation meaning is relative unstable It varies considerably according to culture, historical period and the experience of the individual

1.1.2 Collocation and Contextual effects

According to Saeed (2003: 62), it is clear that words cannot be defined independently

of other words that are semantically related to them and delimit their senses Usually, it is easier to define a word if you are given the phrase or sentence it occurs in It means that word should be put in particular context Without context, the potential of ambiguity is real These contextual effects seem to pull word meanings in two opposite directions: The first restricting influence is the tendency for words to occur together repeatedly, called collocation In other words, collocation is the habitual association of a word in a language with certain particular words than other Then we have collocative meaning Nguyen Hoa (2004) states that collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquires on account of the meaning of words which tend to occur in its environment

Halliday (1966) compares the collocation patterns of two adjectives ―strong” and

―powerful‖ which might seem to have similar meaning For example, we talk of ―strong

tea‖ rather than ―powerful tea‖ but ―a powerful car‖ rather than ‗a strong car‖

The second contextual effects, according to Saeed (2003: 62) can also pull word meanings in the other direction, towards creative and semantic shift In different contexts, words have different meanings For example, with different contexts, the noun ―run‖ can

have different meanings: I go for a run every morning and There‟s been a run on dollars The run of the first example might be in relation of near synonymy to another noun like

jog, but in second example it might be interpreted as “a passion”

It is difficult to separate collocation and semantics because the meaning of one element of the collocated terms seems to depend upon the collocation Moreover, a word will often collocate with a number of other words that have some semantic features in common

1.2 Meaning transference

A necessary condition of any meaning transference or semantic change is some connection, some association between the old meaning and the new one There are basically two types of semantic transference The one based on similarity is called metaphor; the other based on the relation of contiguity is named metonymy

1.2.1 Metaphor

Metaphor from the Greek for ―transference‖, is the transference of meaning from

one object to another based on the similarity between these two objects George Lakoff

(1980) in the widely read book ―Metaphor we live by‖ introduces the notion of conceptual metaphor In this book, they defined metaphor as a process by which we conceive ―one thing in terms of another, and its primary function is understanding‖ (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980: 36) This is an underlying identification of abstract concept with a more basic or concrete concept The transference may be based on similarity of shape, position, movement, function, color, and size Moreover, the names of the animals are also often transferred to the human beings For example, a cunning person is a fox, a spiteful person

is a snake)

There are two concepts involved in a metaphor are referred to in various ways in the literature The start - point or described concept is often called the target domain, while the comparison concept or the analogy is called the source domain (Saeed 2003: 346) For example, ―Mary is a blooming rose‖ In this metaphor, ―Mary‖ is the source domain and ―a blooming rose‖ is the target domain It can be seen in this example that there must be certain similar features between ―Mary‖ and ―a bloom rose‖ The maker of the metaphor implies that the beauty and validity of Mary can be described as a blooming rose in the spring

According to Nguyen Hoa (2004: 109), metaphor may be classified into three kinds

as followings: living metaphor, faded metaphor and dead metaphor Living (poetic,

individual) when a word is used in unusual meaning and metaphor is felt Faded (trite) metaphor is metaphor which lost its freshness because of long use and became habitual Dead metaphor - where metaphoric sense is not felt Dead metaphors are words which have lost their direct meaning and are used only figuratively

1.2.2 Metonymy

Nguyen Hoa (2004: 110) defined metonymy as ―the substitution of one word for another with which it is associated.‖ Metonymy works by contiguity rather than similarity, i.e instead of the name of one object or notion we use the name of another because these objects are associated and closely related For example, we can use the word ―crown‖ instead of ―monarchy‖ There exists a somewhat more complicated possibility for extending word meaning based on a quite different conceptual relation, not a similarity between the instance of the two categories but a strong associationor contiguity of notions According to standard tradition, metonymy is defined as a ―figure in which one word is substituted for another on the basis of some material, causal, or conceptual relation Some substitutions include place-for-institution, thing-for-perception, or object-for-possessor, or part-for-whole, or place-for-event In classic tradition, the following cases of metonymy are often presented:

- We use the name of container instead of the thing contained E.g.: to drink a glass

- Name of parts of human body may be used as symbols E.g.: clever head

- The concrete is used instead of abstract E.g.: from the cradle to the grave

- The materials are used for the things made of the materials E.g.: glass

- The name of the author is used for his works E.g.: Picasso

- Part is used for the whole and vice versa E.g.: roof for house (we all live under the same roof)

The transference of meaning may results in restriction and extension of meaning Restriction of meaning results in an increase in a number of meanings which defines the types of range of referents denoted by the word Extension of meaning refers to generalization of meaning, that is to say, the meaning which defines the word‘s range of referents may be obsolete In other way, extension is the results of increasing the number

of denotational components of the word

1.3 Contextual meaning

1.3.1 Context

According to Celce Murcia (200:11), contexts are ―all the factors and elements that are non-linguistic and textual but affect spoken or written communicative interaction In other words, context is the social, psychological, and physical setting in which language use take place The context often helps in understanding the particular meaning of the word, phrase, and so forth‖

Brown and Yule (1983) stated that there are two main kinds of context: context of situation and context of culture Context of situation is usually discussed under three variables: what is talked about, what relationship between the communication is, what role the language plays This kind of context refers to the environment of the text However, the context of situation alone does not guarantee that the reader knows the purpose of the text he is reading It is necessary to provide information not only about what was happening at that time but also the total culture background This is because, involved in any kind of linguistic interactions were not only the immediate sights and sounds surrounding the event but the whole culture history behind the participants, and behind the kind of practice that they were engaging in All these play a part in interpretation of meaning In other words, to recognize the text as meaningful or purposeful, the reader needs to relate the text to a culture context Context of culture gives purpose and meaning

to the text

In Brown and Yule (1983: 37), Firth‘s model of context is quoted which embraces the following categories First, the relevant features of participants including persons, personalities, the verbal action and non-verbal action of the participants The second category is the relevant objects and the third is the effect of the verbal action In terms of context of culture, Saeed (2003: 192) considered background knowledge as context which include sociocultural and real-world knowledge He also mentioned that we are all members of different communities Each community implies certain types of knowledge which might be shared or not shared with other members He takes the following example

as a good illustration:

A: Come over next week for lunch

B: It‘s Ramadan

If A and B are Muslims then A will propably infer that B‘s reply means ―No‖ We can see that context of culture provided the basis for implication

In short, we can decode the meaning of the sentence or utterance with the help of context Then context include all relevant features of the situation in which the sentence is uttered

1.3.2 Co-text

Geoge Yule (1996: 129) defined co-text of a word (known as linguistic context) ―is the set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence‖ This surrounding co-text has strong effect on what we think the word means In terms of sentences, Nguyen Hoa (2004) stated that when a sentence is uttered, it is not usually placed alone by itself, but rather it is surrounded by other sentences, which help to realize its meaning This kind of surrounding

is called co-text In terms of utterance, co-text is the stretch of language that aoccurs before

or after the utterance which needs to be interpreted (Halliday, quoted in Nguyen Hoa, 2000: 43)

Lyons (1995: 266) stated that context includes not only the relevant co-text but also all relevant features of the situation in which the sentence is uttered Context can contribute

to the reading of meaning In all respects, context is relevant to the determination of what

is said The role of context is then disambiguating the interpretation that is most suitable and appropriate

As we see in our discussion of simile, in order to decide whether a simile interpretation is appropriate or not, first of all, one may need to know what the context of situation is Secondly, having decided that information is being conveyed over and above the information contained in what has been said, the addressees have to infer what this additional information is on the basis of contextual information In the case of the novel David Copperfield, the context here is all the relevant features relating to the characters including their personalities, their verbal and non-verbal actions which are described intentionally by the author Therefore, with the contextual meaning, we can realize that the characters who are depicted as snakes or bats, symbols of devil, will be the bad ones, and those who are portrayed as angel or fairy will be the good ones

1.4 Simile

In the following section, the information relating simile will be presented as the theoretical background to examine the use of simile in depicting the chaeacters in the novel They are definitions of simile, components of simile, the nature of simile in comparing with the ordinary comparison and metaphor, and its two main functions

1.4.1 Definitions of simile

Simile is an ancient rhetoric practice From the Bible to contemporary texts, simile

is ever present in discourse It has been numbered among the figures of speech like metaphor, metonymy, irony, etc Simile, one of the most important and widespread figures

of speech, has been given a lot of definitions

According to Bredin (1998), one of the leading authors on figurative language,

simile is defined as a semantic figure based on comparison, a mental process playing a central role in the way we think and talk about the world, which often associates different spheres Comparing entities leads to, and concludes with, a judgment, i.e a statement that can have an affirmative or negative form: the affirmative form asserts similarity between

entities compared, i.e the sun is like an orange and the negative one denies likeness, e.i the

sun is not like an orange

Harmon and Homan (1996: 560) defined simile as ―a figure of speech in which a similarity between two objects is directly expressed or another way of expressing, it is to say that in a simile both TENOR and VEHICLE are clearly expressed and are joined by an

indicator of resemblance, like or as.‖

Richards & Schmidt (2002) state that every simile involves a comparison, which

explicitly signals itself in the text with a comparison marker such as like and as The

occurrence of a comparison marker is a necessary condition of simile By this definition, the tenor and the vehicle are essentially unlike things or states or affairs linked at the linguistic level by a comparison marker The comparison marker signals an iconic relation between the tenor and the vehicle The tenor is represented via the functioning features of the vehicle, brought forth as a result of the tenor‘s suppression of the other features of the vehicle in the context The functioning features of the vehicle in turn point to the iconic analogy − or the selective similarity − that is predicated of the tenor

Sharing the same view, The American Heritage College Dictionary (1997: 1270) defines simile as ―a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are explicitly

compared, usually by means of ‗like‘ or ‗as‘ This definition, which is fairly typical of

what one finds in dictionaries and rhetorical handbooks, captures at least three essential properties of simile Firstly, they involve some form of comparison Secondly, this comparison is explicit Finally, the comparison involves entities which are not normally considered comparable–that it is, in some senses, figurative

A conclusion drawn from the above definitions is that simile is really kind of comparison They require the distinction of both source and target concepts, and an evaluation of what they have in common, but unlike literal comparison, they are figurative–comparing things normally felt to be incomparable, typically using vivid or startling images to suggest unexpected connections between source and target Simile used

to be considered as a simple figure, a minor variation on some other familiar figure Our purpose in this paper has been to vindicate simile as a figure in its own right Simile is essentially a figure of speech

1.4.2 Components of similes

According to Richards (1963), like metaphor, simile consists of two main parts: tenor and vehicle which are relatively called target and source by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980) Every simile has three parts: a tenor, vehicle and grounds Let‘s use the

following simile as our example: Sheila moved like a panther The tenor of the simile is

what the writer is trying to clarify In our example, the tenor is Sheila The vehicle is the concrete object that is being compared to the tenor Sheila is like a panther The grounds of

a simile refer to the qualities of the vehicle that the reader is meant to apply to the tenor

For example, the writer is most likely trying to say that Sheila moved with power and

stealth, not that she has whiskers and four feet (although she may be prowling on all fours)

Harmon and Homan (1969) state that tenor and vehicle taken together constitute the figure, trope, or ―turn‖ in meaning that the simile conveys At one extreme, the vehicle may be merely a means of decorating the tenor; at the other extreme, the tenor may be merely an excuse for having the vehicle Thus, between them always exists a close relation and similarity that may be very obvious or only in the mind of the simile maker

Beside tenor and vehicle, another important part of simile is also mentioned in many researches The term is called ―dimension‖ or ―ground‖ by Richards (1936) which is defined as the quality that one refers to when using a particular vehicle in relation to the tenor The vehicle has a number of dimensions which may be mapped or transferred back onto the tenor and hence create new meaning

Similes are easily recognizable by the presence of one of a variety of comparison markers In English, the available markers include the following:

Verbs: seem, look like, sound like, resemble, remind

E.g A white BMW which looks like a modern bathroom cabinet than a car

Adjective: similar to, the same as:

E.g my essay is similar to yours

Nouns: a sort of, some kind of, the size of

E.g My kitchen is approximately the size of a postage stamp

Prepositions (in comparative phrases): like, as

E.g Music is like medicine because it takes away the pain

Conjunctions (in comparative clause): as, as though, as if, as when

E.g She treats him as if she were his mother

According to Huddleston & Pullum (2002: 1630, 1656), the compound adjectives are a way of compressing information into a two-word lexeme, where noun functions as vehicle They typically occur in attribute position, and are an alternative to a full relative clause:

N-like adjective: e.g native-like proficiency, Robinson Crusoe-like life

N-shape adjectives: e.g an-L-shape room

N-style: e.g Star Trek-style command seal

N-type adjectives: e.g terrorist-type offences

1.4.3 Nature of similes

1.4.3.1 Simile as a figurative comparison

Miller (1993) defines that comparison in general is a mental act in which two or more entities are evaluated along some parameters While comparison is an inherently

asymmetrical process-with a primary figure, the target, assessed against the ground of a secondary figure, the standard-both entities must nonetheless be fully individuated as objects of conceptualization: one cannot make a comparison without thinking about both of the things one is comparing Broadly speaking, he also states that any construction which prompts the conceptualization of two distinct figures and an assessment of the similarities and differences between them will count as comparison However, simile is not an ordinary comparison, it is figurative one What makes comparison figurative?

According to Bredin (1997:1), literal comparison involves entities which evokes similar domain matrices, but which may differ in their specifications within one or more domains Figurative comparison, on the other hand involves the alignment of concepts with very different domain matrices What makes a simile figurative is that it prompts one to search for similarities where one would not expect to find them and to make connections across concepts which seem otherwise unconnected In other words, the difference between a simile and an ordinary comparison is that similes are predicate comparisons in which the predicate describes the subject Ordinary comparison or literal similes are symmetrical comparisons in which the subject and the predicate are referentially independent In the later but not in the former, the subject and the predicate can be inter-substituted without any change of meaning He also gives an illustration:

1 Blackberries are like raspberries

2 Crime is like a disease

Example (1) is an ordinary comparison while example (2) a figurative one In the

non-literal similes, topic and vehicle are not symmetrical: the terms denoting the two entities

cannot be reversed; if they are reversed, the simile may become meaningless (e.g A

disease is like crime) or its meaning may change substantially (e.g Surgeons are like butchers vs Butchers are like surgeons.) Conversely, in a literal simile or an ordinary

comparison, the terms can be reversed (e.g Raspberries are like blackberries) Furthermore, non-literal similes can drop like (e.g Crime is a disease) while literal ones cannot (e.g Blackberries are raspberries.)

In short, unlike literal comparison, similes are figurative - comparing things normally felt to be incomparable, typically using vivid startling images to suggest unexpected connections between the source and target It is essentially a figure of speech-in fact, an explicit form of comparison; but unlike literal comparison, simile is essentially figurative,

making unexpected connections between literally unlike concepts These observations are simple, but they have important consequences for the forms similes take, the meanings they convey, and ultimately for the rhetorical functions they serve We hope we have provided an adequate glimpse of some of these consequences here - enough, in any case, to make simile seem a little less simple and a little more alluring

1.4.3.2 Simile and Metaphor

Figures of speech consist of different types such as allegory, metaphor, synecdoche, metonymy and simile, etc However, the distinction between simile and metaphor is among the oldest and most widely recognized in rhetorical theory It is also one of the most tenuous Understanding the relation between simile and metaphor will help

us to master more about the nature of simile

For many analysts, it is a distinction almost without a difference–as Aristotle puts

it, ‗the simile also is metaphor the difference is but slight‘ (Rhetoric III, 4).Traditionally, what difference there is has been seen as a matter of form: a simile simply makes explicit what a metaphor merely implies Since the difference between the two is apparently so superficial, theorists have tended to define one figure in terms of the other One venerable tradition, stretching from Quintilian to Miller (1979) sees metaphor as a sort of elliptical simile Another tradition, uniting theorists as diverse as, Larkoff and Johnson (1980), and Gluckberg and Keysar (1990), takes metaphor as the more basic of the two figures, and view simile as the explicit expression of a metaphorical mapping There is a vast literature

on metaphor, but the literature explicitly devoted to similes is less extensive In their second edition, Lakoff and Johnson (2003) added an afterword in which they deny that a metaphor is a kind of simile or that metaphors are based on similarity, but they do not explore the phenomenon of similes in any detail Therefore, simile and metaphor must be distinguished from each other for the confusion they may cause

According to Cambridge Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary (2003), simile and

metaphor are distinguished from their definitions If metaphor is defined as ―an expression

which describes a person or object in a literary way by referring to something that is considered to possess similar characteristics to the person or object you are trying to describe”, the definition for simile is ―an expression comparing one thing with another,

always including the words „as‟ or „like‟” Through these definitions, some differences can

be found between these two common figures of speech

Firstly, metaphor is an expression used to describe one thing by referring to another thing with similar qualities whereas simile is an expression used to compare two things Secondly, it is easier to make distinction between these two notions due to the presence of

such words as ‗like‟ or „as‟ in simile but not in metaphor The following instance is a good

illustration for the difference of metaphor and simile:

Fame is a fickle food (Emily Dickinson, Complete Poems, 1924)

I‟m like a bird (From the song ―I‘m like a bird‖ by Nelly Furtado)

The former is a metaphor which tries to express the nature of abstract concept ‗fame‘ through a concrete object ―a fickle food‖ Thus, by the image ―a fickle food‖, it is easier to understand the characteristics of ―fame‖, of course in the mind of the poet Here, it can be understood from features of ―a fickle food‖ that ―fame‖ is not only attractive but also easily and suddenly changeable The latter is obviously a simile with the word ―like‖ The singer wants to compare herself with a bird because they are both free and able to go everywhere

It can be said that metaphor is an equation and it can be formulated as ―A is B‖ whereas simile is just an approximation and its formulation is ―A is as or like B‖ Moreover, metaphor can be extended, that means it can leaps from A to B, then from B to C, etc but simile reaches its limits In practice, in spite of some synonymous meanings, their meanings can be quite different If metaphor implicitly expresses an identity, simile explicitly describes a comparison A simile often expresses something true whereas a metaphor always expresses something untrue and even paradoxical so readers or listener have to make sense

In brief, simile and metaphor are powerful figures of speech which both compare two seemingly unrelated objects but between them exists distinctive features

1.4.4 Functions of Simile

As mentioned above, simile plays an important part not only in language but also in human cognition The nature and functions of simile are studied by a lot of linguists and researchers in different fields such as science, linguistic philosophy, sociology and anthropology, literature and translation Similes can fulfil various functions, for example, they serve to communicate concisely and efficiently: they are one of a set of linguistic devices (figures of speech) which extend the linguistic resources available Furthermore, they can function as cognitive tools for thought in that they enable us to think of the world

in novel, alternative ways, namely, they can create relations of similarity In discourse,

they can also fulfill more specific functions depending on the textual genre in which they occur However, in my thesis two main functions are mentioned, one of which is to create image The other function is to decorate or ornament

1.4.4.1 Simile is used to create image

Being an important part in literature, image has the function to fill the spaces made

in the rhetorical moves of the novel Due to this, simile and other figures of speech mostly involve images As a result, one major function of simile is to create images for concepts The notion ―image‖ has been studied for thousands of year by both philosophers and writers A lot of definitions have been made with the effort to clarify the nature and the use

of it in language A definition is offered by Oxford Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary, in which image is defined as ―a word or phrase used with a different meaning from its normal one, in order to describe something in a way that produces a strong picture in the mind‖ However, this definition only covers the basic understanding about an image but not the real nature of an image One of the most widely used definitions of image that comes from Ezra Pound (1913) states that ―an image is that which represents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time‖ In this definition, image is not only a representative of something else but also a representative of emotion, intellect and other concrete things that human being can experience in a particular point of time

According to Giora, Rachel (1997), language can be classified into two groups: literal and figurative language In accordance, there are two kinds of images: literal and figurative images Literal images appeal to our sense of realistic perception whereas figurative images appeal to our imagination Thus, an image in novel is not only visual as ordinary images but it can also engage any of the senses For these characteristics of image, simile often employs image to make the notions easier to be understood more

comprehensively The following example is a typical illustration: He looked like a broiled

frog, hunched over his desk, grinning and satisfied You don't have to have seen a broiled

frog to appreciate the effect of this As a matter of fact, it is inconceivable that a frog, when broiled, would grin or look satisfied, and almost equally unlikely that any readers have ever seen a broiled frog The purpose of the writer who created this simile, as with most professional writers, is to create interpretative resonance and appeal the imagination Besides image, another related term is imagery which is considered to be most investigated in literature in general and in novel in particular Sometimes, in order to extend the description of the subject matter, simile can create not only one image but a network of different images Imagery, that means images taken collectively, is defined as

―the total sensory suggestion of poetry‖ (John Ciardi, World Book Dictionary) According

to M.H Abrams (1985), imagery has three main functions Firstly, it is used to ―signify all the objects and qualities of sense perception referred to in a poem or other work of literature, whether by literal description, by allusion, or in the analogues (the vehicles) used

in its similes and metaphors‖ (M.H.Abrams, ed, 1985: 81) Secondly, it is employed to signify only description of visible objects and scenes Thirdly, the most common use of imagery is to signify figurative language, especially the vehicles of metaphors and similes

As can be seen, image and imagery are essential parts of a literature works, especially for

a novel and they make novels more concrete With them, it is possible for creative writers

to develop the function of similes that is to create concrete images so as to explain abstract concepts as well as bring aesthetic effects to their works of art

1.4.4.2 Simile has the function of decorating

According to Wellek & Warren (1973: 198 - 199), in literal text such as poetry, novel or drama, similes fulfil aesthetic function Thus, simile has got a prominent function that is to decorate or ornament something Carrying this outstanding function, simile is

commonly found in creative writing such as poetry, literature, public oratory and other registers One of the representatives of figurative language is Aritotle His main treatment

of simile and metaphor is to discuss the functions of its in literature language, especially the language of tragedy Such similes of perception are often extended to situations that the reader would be most unlikely to have experienced personally

In literary texts, we can find an original use of standard similes, as in the

following example: They behave like little dogs (W Shakespeare, Othello, London,

Methuen, V, ii, verse 135) It will be interpreted by the reader at the end of the narrative: two young men (the tenor) are compared with the little dogs (the vehicle) attributing to them the reckless behavior of young animals that play and are not aware of the consequences of their actions However, simile can be employed in many different kinds of discourse, not only in creative ones like literature be found in science, economics, psychology, law, politics, religion, journal, etc and in these fields, its function is not merely

to decorate something but more importantly to enable human conceive one concept

In short, simile is a kind of comparison Concerning the structure of simile, two main components of simile are identified as tenor (target) and vehicle (source) There is also existence of indicators of resemblance ‗as‘ or ‗like‘ between these two components of simile Unlike metaphor, they require the distinction of both source and target concepts, and an evaluation of what they have in common, but unlike literal comparison, they are figurative- comparing things normally felt to be comparable, typically using vivid or startling images to suggest unexpected connections between source and target domains There are different functions and performance of simile With special characteristics, the main function of simile is to describe and evaluate things through comparing them indirectly

Moreover, concerning the interpretation of simile, the matters of word meaning, transference of meaning and contextual meaning are also presented as background knowledge In order to understand the use of simile, besides the knowledge of cognitive semantics, one needs to know the context of situation and context of culture of the novel in which similes are used

Besides, simile used in literature especially in novels is very different from ones used in everyday language Similes used in the novels can perform its oldest and most significant characteristics with purposes of creating freshly aesthetic effects in the novels Thus, it is

more obvious to view the power of simile if it appears in novels In the next chapter, a specific study on similes in depicting features of characters in the novel David Copperfield

by Charles Dickens will be carried out with the view to illustrating the construction, frequency and effects of simile in such creative language as novel

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

In this chapter the procedure in which the study was carried out is reported in details and the results are revealed

2.1 Research questions

 How is simile used in depicting features of the characters in David Copperfield ?

2.2 Data collection

There are 99 similes depicting features of characters in 64 chapters of the novel which are

chosen as the data for analysis The vehicles in these similes are classified into four groups:

Animals, supernatural beings, natural phenomena, and man-made objects The selection is based on the following reasons:

Firstly, we chose Dickens‘s novel as the main resource of data because of his popularity in English literature

Secondly, we chose his work because of their suitable language for a thesis The novels by Dickens have proven themselves worthy of deep reflection and criticism, and the fact that they have endured for over a century show that the works are more than superficial The simile device in this novel plays a significant role for Dickens in depicting particular features of various characters elaborately or fancifully Thus, I will explicate the mechanism of his use of simile here, focusing on the grammatical forms and semantic relation in the following section

Thirdly, the language of the novel is of the 19th century which is quite near to contemporary in English Thus it is authentic and reliable for a linguistic study