When we encounter the description of metaphor, how do we understand the implied meaning as metaphor? When I consider this question, the idea of exigency occurred in my mind because it seems to work like the mental image for understanding an icon. We can understand the meaning of an icon in spite of the fact that the icon is not the meaning itself because we use the mental images which are already present in our way of thinking to figure out the relationships between the icon and the meaning. In other words, the mental images are our exigency.
According to Killingsworth, we also use our experience as exigency to figure out the meaning of metaphor. Killingsworth explains that "Along these lines we can also suggest that appeals to the body, built upon a network of metaphorical identifications, form the foundation for most of the other appeals
• Appeals to time link metaphorically with the experience of the aging body.
• Appeals to place link with the spatial experience of the living body, including the perception of natural phenomena such as gravity, weather, topography, and the seasons. The body is the place of places, where the self resides.
• Appeals to gender link with the bodily experience of maleness or femaleness, including the awareness of bodily features and functions such as hormonal fluctuations as well as societal injunctions and limits on behavior.
. . . . Because of its power to invoke the aid of the body in understanding, metaphor deserves close attention in the crafting and analysis of rhetorical appeals" (p. 126). In terms of the interpretation of the meaning, if we believe the statement as it is, we cannot see the implied meaning because it is hidden on purpose.
Just like we understand the icon, the metaphor would not be present without our experience learned through life. Therefore, we have to use our experience as exigency unconsciously in order to identify the implied meaning in the metaphor as real meaning.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very interesting point you have made, Ryosuke. When I read your post, I first thought about how this relates to Abigail Adam's letters to John. Throughout the letters, there are many footnotes because so many of the metaphors she uses only contain meaning because of her life experiences. For example, when she says "I soon get lost in a Labyrinth of perplexities", we can understand that a labyrinth is relevant to the time in which the letters were written. In order to understand completely what she is implying, we must look to the footnotes or other background information. If we had no previous knowledge about labyrinths, then we would not understand the meaning or context of this metaphor.
ReplyDelete