VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES PHÍ THỊ THU TRANG A STUDY OF WATER AND FIRE AS METAPHORS IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SHORT STORIES OF THE 20TH CENTURY NGHIÊN CỨU ẨN DỤ NƯỚC VÀ LỬA TRONG TRUYỆN NGẮN THẾ KỶ 20 CỦA MỸ VÀ VIỆT NAM MINOR M.A THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 602215 HÀ NỘI, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES PHÍ THỊ THU TRANG A STUDY OF WATER AND FIRE AS METAPHORS IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE SHORT STORIES OF THE 20TH CENTURY NGHIÊN CỨU ẨN DỤ NƯỚC VÀ LỬA TRONG TRUYỆN NGẮN THẾ KỶ 20 CỦA MỸ VÀ VIỆT NAM MINOR M.A THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS CODE: 602215 SUPERVISOR: VĂN THỊ THANH BÌNH, M.A HÀ NỘI, 2010 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale for the study Scope of the study Objectives of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical background 1.1 An overview of metaphor 1.1.1 What is metaphor? 1.1.2 Components of metaphor 1.1.3 Types of metaphor 1.2 Metaphor in literature 1.3 American short stories of the 20th century 1.4 Vietnamese short stories of the 20th century 10 Chapter 2: Water and fire as metaphors in American and Vietnamese short stories of the 20th century 12 2.1 The popularity of water and fire as metaphors 12 2.2 The formation of metaphors of water and fire 14 2.2.1 Lexical items 14 2.2.2 Parts of speech 20 2.3 The functions of metaphors of water and fire 23 2.3.1 The description of strong emotions 23 v 2.3.2 The creation of imagery 32 2.4 Summary of the chapter 36 PART THREE: CONCLUSION 38 An overview of the study 38 Pedagogical implications 40 Suggestions for further studies 42 REFERENCES 43 APPENDIX A I APPENDIX B II APPENDIX C III APPENDIX D VIII APPENDIX E XX APPENDIX F XXIX APPENDIX G XXX