(Luận văn thạc sĩ) life and death metaphors in some short stories by jack london from cognitive perspective

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE-STUDIES HOÀNG DIỆU THU LIFE AND DEATH METAPHORS IN SOME SHORT STORIES BY JACK LONDON FROM COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE ẨN DỤ VỀ SỐNG VÀ CHẾT TRONG MỘT SỐ TRUYỆN NGẮN CỦA JACK LONDON DƯỚI GĨC NHÌN TRI NHẬN M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 HA NOI - 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE-STUDIES HOÀNG DIỆU THU LIFE AND DEATH METAPHORS IN SOME SHORT STORIES BY JACK LONDON FROM COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE ẨN DỤ VỀ SỐNG VÀ CHẾT TRONG MỘT SỐ TRUYỆN NGẮN CỦA JACK LONDON DƯỚI GÓC NHÌN TRI NHẬN M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15 Supervisor: Associate Professor Võ Đa ̣i Quang, Ph.D HA NOI - 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration……………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgement .ii Astract ………………………………………………………………………….…iii Table of contents………………………………………………………………… iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.2.1 Aims of the study 1.2.2 Objectives of the study 1.3 Significance of the study 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Structure of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of different theories on metaphor 2.2 Conceptual metaphor 2.2.1 What is meant by “conceptual metaphor”? 2.2.2 How metaphor structures our thoughts 2.2.3 Mapping as a major function of metaphors 2.3 Highlighting and Hiding 2.4 Coherence and Consistence 2.5 Previous studies related to the theme of this thesis 2.6 Summary 11 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 12 3.1 Principles governing the research 12 3.1.1 Principles governing the research type 12 3.1.2 Principles for the formulation of research questions 13 3.2 Methods employed for the research 14 3.2.1 Data collections instruments 15 3.2.2 Data analysis techniques 15 3.2.3 Data analysis procedure 16 iv 3.3 Summary 16 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 17 4.1 Life Metaphors 17 4.1.1 Life is a journey 17 4.1.2 Life is a fighting/ Life is a battle 20 4.1.3 Life is fire/ heat/ warmth 24 4.1.4 Life is light 27 4.2 Death metaphors 27 4.2.1 Death is the end of a journey 27 4.2.2 Death is cold 29 4.2.3 Death is night/ Death is darkness 31 4.2.4 Death is rest/ Death is sleep 32 4.3 Coherence and consistence of Life and Death metaphors 34 4.3.1 Coherence of Life and Death metaphors 34 4.3.2 Consistence of Life and Death metaphors 35 4.4 Summary 36 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 38 5.1 CONCLUDING REMARKS 38 5.1.1 Concluding remarks on objective – The common type of metaphor for Life and Death image in Jack London’s short stories 38 5.1.2 Concluding remarks on objective – The markers of coherence and consistence between the Life and Death metaphors 38 5.1.3 Concluding remarks on objective - The possible implications for English language teaching and learning 39 5.2 LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 41 5.2.1 Limitations of the study 41 5.2.2 Suggestion for further research 41 REFERENCES 44 APPENDICES .I v CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study Nowadays people have witnessed a great proliferation of works in cognitive grammar, most of which are related to the field of metaphor According to Lakoff & Johnson (1980), there is a set of metaphorical concepts with which we conceptualize the world, or better, our worldviews Following this, metaphor is rather a matter of daily life experience, or a matter ―of thought and reason‖ (Lakoff, 1993: 208) than merely a matter of language Lakoff & Johnson (1980: 6) claim that part of ―the human conceptual system is metaphorically structured and defined.‖ This means that we tend to conceptualize metaphorically certain aspects of life in a systematic way These authors offer a wide range of metaphors that cover basic aspects of life by structuring metaphorically one concept in terms of another Apparently, the high frequency of metaphor in general and conceptual metaphor in literature is one of the interesting fields for linguistics because it has an undeniable influence on the poetic character of a literary works Moreover, literature seems to be the superior choice to consider the product of imagination which reflects the real life Because of the woven of imagination and real life, the language used on literature is not only imaginative but also realistic, which allows people to examine metaphors in both ―ordinary and extraordinary‖ perspectives There are a number of researchers and linguists take metaphors in literature as favorite topic for their studying As Semino & Steen, (2008: 233) metaphors in literature is considered ―more create, novel, original, striking, rich, interesting, complex, difficult, and interpretable‖ than conventional metaphor Among various metaphor concepts, Life and Death metaphors have been taken into consideration by many linguistics But it seems that the Life and Death metaphors are often investigated separately For that reason, the present paper would like to take investigation in both metaphor concepts for the image of Life and Death Jack London, whose fiction clearly indicates the ways in which both his personal experiences and his reading shaped his outlook, always showed the theme of man's attempts to survive the forces of nature, the threat of savages, and the competition with other fortune seekers In Jack London‘s short stories, the battle between Life and Death is presented clearly and interestingly, without the existence of the other For that reason, the present paper would like to investigate the metaphor concept of Life and Death in some short stories by Jack London from the cognitive perspective 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.2.1 Aims of the study This paper is to find out the mapping of conceptual metaphors for Life and Death in some short stories by Jack London It is expected that with the finding established, an overview of LIFE and DEATH metaphors in the obtained literature will be brought about Also, implications for language teaching and learning are offered 1.2.2 Objectives of the study The objectives of the study can be elaborated into the following research questions - What are the common types of metaphors for the Life and Death image in Jack London‘s short stories seen from the cognitive perspective? - What are the markers of coherence and consistence of Life and Death metaphors based on the framework advocated by Lakoff & Johnson? - What are the possible implications for language teaching and learning? 1.3 Significance of the study Metaphor is one of the most basic phenomena in human language This kind of study has significance not only for investigation into language in use, but also for the research of human mind Besides theoretical significance, this study also sheds light on second language teaching and learning This thesis aims to analyze metaphorical sayings of Life and Death from the cognitive perspective, i.e to view the sayings of Life and Death from the perspective of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory Both theoretical analysis and empirical study are conducted on the topic 1.4 Scope of the study The present study takes its basic theoretical background from the work of Lakoff & Johnson (1980), Lakoff & Turner (1989), and Lakoff (2006), where metaphorical expression is conceived as the surface realization of cross-domain mapping in the 128 conceptual systems Due to the limited time, space and the author‘s ability, the present paper just investigates the conceptual metaphors for Life and Death expressed in some famous works by Jack London in the light of theory raised by G Lakoff & M Johnson 1.5 Structure of the study The study consists of five chapters Chapter 1, Introduction, is spared for the presentation of the rationale, aims, significance, scope, and the structure of the study Chapter 2, Literature review, provides the necessary information about the theoretical background related to metaphor based on Lakoff & Johnson‘s perspective Chapter 3, Methodology, provides information about the principles that govern the research and the methods to be employed Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, presents the findings obtained and sound discussions on those findings Chapter 5, Conclusion, provides a recapitulation of the main issues and problems presented in the study The main content in this chapter is the specific conclusions on each of the research question Also, implications for teaching and suggestion for further research have been supplied This subsection brings about the practical value to the thesis from which readers can, to different degrees, benefit CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of different theories on metaphor Put very generally, there are two main approaches in the study of metaphor: firstly, the traditional approach, which encompasses many different theories but shares some fundamental presumptions, secondly, the cognitive approach, which, despite being very recent, has become the most influential theory of metaphor (Richardt, 2005 p 19) Traditionally, According to website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor, A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance including allegory, hyperbole, and simile From cognitive point of view, as stated by Lakoff and Johnson, our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature Without knowing it, we use metaphors on a daily basis in our language, thought and in the way we experience things because our conceptual system is largely metaphorical This means that metaphor consists of conceptual metaphors, which is cognitive in nature, and various linguistic expressions of these conceptual metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson 2003: 50) Lakoff and Johnson explore our conceptual system by looking at language They argue that as communication is based on the same conceptual system that we use in thinking and acting, language is an important source of evidence for what that system is like They use ARGUMENT IS WAR as an example There are manifestations of this metaphorical concept in everyday language: ―Your claims are indefensible,‖ ―I demolished his argument,‖ ―I‘ve never won an argument with him‖ and ―If you use that strategy, he‘ll wipe you out.‖ ARGUMENT IS WAR is not just a way of talking about argument Many of our actions during an argument are actually structured by the concept of war It is a metaphor ―that we live by in this culture; it structures the actions we perform in arguing‖ 2.2 Conceptual metaphor 2.2.1 What is meant by “conceptual metaphor”? The word ―metaphor‖ means to ―carry over‖ or to ―transfer‖ For Lakoff & Johnson (1980: 5), metaphor is used for us to realize ―one kind of thing in terms of another‖ A metaphorical expression can be just one word, or it can be a phrase or a sentence It is even possible to regard an entire story as a metaphor for life or the world (Goatly, 2011: 109) The following part will look into the structure and mechanics of metaphor in order to arrive at a definition of metaphor that will be used in this study 2.2.2 How metaphor structures our thoughts According to Lakoff and Johnson‘s theory, a conceptual metaphor is a concept about the world By adding the conceptual level to the linguistic level of metaphor, the theory of conceptual metaphor expands the idea of metaphor This means that metaphor consists of conceptual metaphors, which is cognitive in nature, and various linguistic expressions of these conceptual metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003: 50) We can take TIME IS MONEY metaphor as a common example of how metaphor is more than a matter of language, this metaphor enable us to use expressions such as ―that flat tire cost me an hour‟ (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003: 8), TIME IS MONEY metaphor also allows us to treat our time as something value that should not be wasted or should at least be spent or even invested wisely APPENDIX A: LIFE IS A JOURNEY APPENDIX B: LIFE IS A FIGHTING/ LIFE IS A BATTLE APPENDIX C: LIFE IS FIRE/ HEAT/ WARMTH APPENDIX D: LIFE IS LIGHT/ LIFE IS DAYTIME APPENDIX E: DEATH IS THE END OF A JOURNEY APPENDIX F: DEATH IS COLD APPENDIX G: DEATH IS NIGHT/ DEATH IS DARKNESS APPENDIX H: DEATH IS REST/ DEATH IS SLEEP II APPENDIX A: LIFE IS A JOURNEY No Source domain Target domain Example Journey Life The long trail waited while the short day refused to linger Life called her, and the duties of life, not death (The law of life) Ah, there it was that the long trail began Well, he had lasted longest (Lost face) Prince was led away by these uncrowned heroes who had seen history made, who regarded the great and the romantic as but the ordinary and the incidental in the routine of life (An Odyssey of the North) Since then my life had been one long peregrination from the Orient to the Occident, from the Arctic to the Antarctic to find myself at last, an able seaman at thirty, in the full vigour of my manhood, drowning in San Francisco bay because of a disastrously successful attempt to desert my ship.( A thousand deaths) Traveler Human He had carried his life too long in his hands, on that weary trail from Warsaw to Nulato, to shudder at mere dying (Lost face) His bleak life rose up and smote him, - the vain struggle with pitiless forces; the dreary years of frost and famine; the harsh and jarring contact with elemental life III Different Roads different Choices ―Sole speck of life journeying across the ghostly wastes of a dead world, he trembles at his audacity realizes that his is a maggot's life nothing more.‖ (The white silence) ―It was the way of life, and it was just.‖ (The law of life) ―There was life in the Northland He would follow it, look upon it, gloat over it.‖ (In a far country) ―But when I was come to that place, the priest stood in my way, and spoke soft words, and said a man in anger should go neither to the right nor left, but straight to God‖ ―From the beginning, at Warsaw, at St Petersburg, in the Siberian mines, in Kamtchatka, on the crazy boats of the fur-thieves, Fate had been driving him to this end” (Love of life) APPENDIX B: LIFE IS A FIGHTING/ LIFE IS A BATTLE No Source domain Target domain Example Battle Game of life Life is a strange thing Much have I thought on it, and pondered long, yet daily the strangeness of it grows not less, but more Why this longing for Life? It is a game which no man wins.( The grit of woman) Opponents Life Fate asked too much of him And, dying, he IV /Death declined to die It was stark madness, perhaps, but in the very grip of Death he defied Death and refused to die.(Love of life) The sudden danger, the quick death, — how often had Malemute Kid faced it! (The white silence) For five years, shoulder to shoulder, on the rivers and trails, in the camps and mines, facing death by field and flood and famine, had they knitted the bonds of their comradeship? (The white silence) I had faced death and weighed my chances in many a desperate venture, but never in one of this nature (A thousand deaths) Then an Indian boy, at the head of half a dozen frightened dogs, racing with death, dashed into the crowd (The man of forty mile) He rested wherever he fell, crawled on whenever the dying life in him flickered up and burned less dimly He, as a man, no longer strove It was the life in him, unwilling to die, that drove him on (The Great Interrogation) His bleak life rose up and smote him,—the vain struggle with pitiless forces.( The Great Interrogation) Struggle for win Struggle for survival On every hand stretched the forest primeval, the home of noisy comedy and silent tragedy Here the V struggle for survival continued to wage with all its ancient brutality (The god of his father) Already, over unknown trails and chartless wildernesses, were the harbingers of the steel arriving, - fair-faced, blue-eyed, indomitable men, incarnations of the unrest of their race By accident or design, single-handed and in twos and threes, they came from no one knew whither, and fought, or died, or passed on, no one knew whence So many an unsung wanderer fought his last and died under the cold fire of the aurora, as did his brothers in burning sands and reeking jungles, and as they shall continue to till in the fulness of time the destiny of their race be achieved (The god of his father) To live is to toil hard, and to suffer sore, till Old Age creeps heavily upon us and we throw down our hands on the cold ashes of dead fires In pain the babe sucks his first breath, in pain the old man gasps his last, and all his days are full of trouble and sorrow; yet he goes down to the open arms of Death, stumbling, falling, with head turned backward, fighting to the last (The grit of woman) Two died under it; others were injured for life; and the rest took the lesson to heart and ran away no more (Lost face) VI And as they shall continue to till in the fulness of time the destiny of their race be achieved (The grit of woman) It is a very great medicine It has saved my life many times.(Lost face) Surrender battle Surrender life He was losing in his battle with the frost (To build a fire) When the last stick had surrendered up its heat, the frost would begin to gather strength (Love of life) And Kid! He stooped lower to catch the last faint words, the dying man's surrender of his pride "I'm sorry – for - you know - Carmen." (The white silence) APPENDIX C: LIFE IS FIRE/ HEAT/ WARMTH No Source domain Target domain Example Degree of fire Intensity of life A life can be a promising flame as There was the fire, snapping and crackling and promising life with every dancing flame ( To build a fire) El-Soo was quick, and deft and intelligent; but above all she was fire, the living flame of life, a blaze of personality that was compounded of VII will, sweetness, and daring (The wit of Porportuk) She was an artist, and the fire of her flowed toward creation (The wit of Porportuk) It was the flame of her, that did not depend upon feature, that was her beauty (The wit of Porportuk) He rested wherever he fell, crawled on whenever the dying life in him flickered up and burned less dimly (Love of life) Sole speck of life journeying across the ghostly wastes of a dead world, he trembles at his audacity, realizes that his is a maggot's life, nothing more (The white silence) Maintaining the fire Maintaining At last the measure of his life was a handful of life fagots One by one they would go to feed the fire, and just so, step by step, death would creep upon him When the last stick had surrendered up its heat, the frost would begin to gather strength First his feet would yield, then his hands; and the numbness would travel, slowly, from the extremities to the body.(The law of life) He cherished VIII the flame carefully and awkwardly It meant life, and it must not perish (To build a fire) He replenished it with two sticks this time, and gauged his grip on life by what remained (The law of life) Light is out Life is out You have grudged life To live cost overmuch, and you have refused to pay the price Your life has been like a cabin where the fire is out and there are no blankets on the floor (The wit of Porportuk) I am an old man Yet can understand the ways of youth The fire has not all gone out of me (The wit of Porportuk) Nor did he doubt it, looking upon her and holding her off from him; but his face had grown stern and gray, and the warmth had died out of his eyes (The great integration) IX APPENDIX D: LIFE IS LIGHT Source domain Target domain Light / daytime Life Example Morning brought consciousness to the stricken man, and Malemute Kid bent closer to catch his whispers (The white silence) The sun was coming back again It would be with them to-morrow, and the next day, and the next (In a far country) The ice-locked winter would be broken; the winds would blow and the forests answer; the land would bathe in the blessed sunshine, and life renew (In a far country) For sometimes he lat without movement, the genial sunshine pouring upon him and suturing his miserable body with its warmth (Love of life) ―And not one in ten of the tribe lived to meet the sun when it came back in the spring.‖ (The law of life) ―Bursting into its bloom after the dawn, snow-white, warming to pink under the hours of sun, and quickening to scarlet with the dark from which its beauty and its being would never emerge, it seemed to him that it epitomized man's life and passion.‖ (The Kanada surf) X APPENDIX E: DEATH IS THE END OF A JOURNEY No Source domain Target domain Example Traveler Human He followed the trail of the other man who dragged himself along, and soon came to the end of it (Love of life) They had passed out of his life, and he faced the last bitter hour alone (The law of life) They had passed away like clouds from a summer sky He also was an episode, and would pass away (The law of life) When he had recovered his breath and control, he sat up and entertained in his mind the conception of meeting death with dignity (To build a fire) Final destination Death The trail ends here, and I am tired (The girt of woman) And he was very close to death now.(The law of life) And in the end, Death waited, ever-hungry and hungriest of them all (The law of life) This is the end of the trail for Passuk; but your trail, Charley, leads on and on, over the great Chilcoot, down to Haines Mission and the sea And it leads on and on, by the light of many suns, over unknown XI lands and strange waters, and it is full of years and honors and great glories It leads you to the lodges of many women, and good women, but it will never lead you to a greater love than the love of Passuk.‖ (The grit of woman) He pictured the boys finding his body next day Suddenly he found himself with them, coming along the trail and looking for himself And, still with them, he came around a turn in the trail and found himself lying in the snow He did not belong with himself any more, for even then he was out of himself, standing with the boys and looking at himself in the snow (To build a fire) And he felt a great envy of the man who could go down serenely to the dark gates of death (The god of his fathers) APPENDIX F: DEATH IS COLD Source domain Target domain Example It was very like a sea, this deadly languor, that rose and cold Death rose and drowned his consciousness bit by bit (Love of life) A good idea, he thought, to sleep off to death It was like taking an anaesthetic Freezing was not so bad as people thought There were lots worse ways to die (To build a XII fire) But the tremendous cold had already driven the life out of his fingers (To build a fire) He was losing in his battle with the frost (To build a fire) A good idea, he thought, to sleep off to death It was like taking an anaesthetic Freezing was not so bad as people thought There were lots worse ways to die (To build a fire) And all things were dead There were no ptarmigan, no squirrels, no snowshoe rabbits, nothing The river made no sound beneath its white robes The sap was frozen in the forest And it became cold, as now; and in the night the stars drew near and large, and leaped and danced; and in the day the sun-dogs mocked us till we saw many suns, and all the air flashed and sparkled, and the snow was diamond dust And there was no heat, no sound, only the bitter cold and the Silence (The grit of woman) And when she grew cold in my arms I arose, and sought out the well-filled pouch, and girt on my snowshoes, and staggered along the trail (The grit of woman) XIII APPENDIX H: DEATH IS REST/ DEATH IS SLEEP Source domain Target domain Example Night/ darkness Death And through the long darkness the children wailed and died, and the women, and the old men; and not one in ten of the tribe lived to meet the sun when it came back in the spring The flush of gold we see "Because of the darkness on her soul that is the same as the darkness of death She was more strangely beautiful before the darkness fell upon her, And now she lives in darkness, and she who was always fickle, for the first time is constant - and constant to a shade, to a dead man she does not realize is dead There were no lands of sunshine, heavy with the perfume of flowers Such things were only old dreams of paradise The sunlands of the West and the spicelands of the East, the smiling Arcadias and blissful Islands of the Blest, -ha! ha! His laughter split the void and shocked him with its unwonted sound There was no sun This was the Universe, dead and cold and dark, and he its only citizen The stillness of death was about them (In a far country) The light had gone out of the day (In a far country) XIV DEATH IS REST/ DEATH IS SLEEP Source domain Target domain Example Sleep/ Rest Death He slept like a dead man, He was very weary and often wished to rest to lie down and sleep; but he was continually driven on - not so much by his desire to gain the land of little sticks as by his hunger (Love of life) A vain and fleeting thing, it was only life that pained There was no hurt in death To die was to sleep It meant cessation, rest Then why was he not content to die? (Love of life) His head would fall forward upon his knees, and he would rest It was easy All men must die (The law of life) Then the man drowsed off into what seemed to him the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known (To build a fire) He was compelled to think this thought, or else there would not be any use to strive, and he would have lain down and died (Love of life) And men who have shared their bed with death know when the call is sounded (The white silence) Who would rouse the dead? Then who would rouse the XV living that are dead? (The flush of gold) The dead men came out of their graves more frequently now, and rarely left him, waking or sleeping He grew to wait and dread their coming, never passing the twin cairns without a shudder One night they came to him in his sleep and led him forth to an appointed task (In a far country) XVI ... image in Jack London? ??s short stories After the investigation into conceptual metaphors for Life and Death in short stories by Jack London in the light of cognitive perspective by Lakoff and Johnson,... find out the mapping of conceptual metaphors for Life and Death in some short stories by Jack London It is expected that with the finding established, an overview of LIFE and DEATH metaphors in. .. language teaching and learning This thesis aims to analyze metaphorical sayings of Life and Death from the cognitive perspective, i.e to view the sayings of Life and Death from the perspective