Metaphor Assignment

For this assignment, you will identify and analyze 3 different metaphors that you encounter in your everyday life. They are all around you. The trick is to hear them when they come up. For instance, I have already used a couple in class (“boilerplate,” “vacuum”).

You can find these metaphors in a number of different places, such as:

· speaking with a friend (my stomach is growling)

· In the lyrics of a song (“Jack Frost nipping at your nose;” “Life’s a dance”)

· In an advertisement (“There’s a tiger in your tank,” Old Exxon Ad)

· In a slang expression (That was the bomb)

· In a cliché (It’s a dog eat dog world; Pull yourself up by your bootstraps)

· Just about anywhere (War is hell. Love is a battlefield.)

Having identified your metaphor, write a brief analysis (a solid paragraph or two) of each metaphor that answers each of the questions below.

· What does the metaphor highlight? Metaphors ask us to see one thing from the perspective of something else. It draws attention to a similarity. How does this similarity work – what aspect is being highlighted?

o Exxon’s metaphor highlights the power and aggression of their gas.

· What does the metaphor hide? In drawing a comparison to another word or idea, metaphors generally take something abstract and make it concrete and comprehensible. But, this process comes at a cost and the shift in perspective also hides aspects.

o By equating war with a place beyond man’s knowledge or control, the metaphor obscures that men are responsible for war.

· Who or what does the metaphor empower or disempower? Metaphors also often empower or disempower groups or ideas. Think about how your metaphors do this.

o The metaphor of pulling one’s self up by his/her bootstraps could be seen as empowering one to take control of their life but it could also obscure real conditions of poverty and oppression that making self-advancement impossible. It also genders the metaphor as boots with straps are typically worn by men.

To do well on this assignment, your analysis should show us how the metaphor makes meaning. You have to push yourself and really think through what the metaphor does, and this means feeling as if you are going too far. You need to push past the “literal” way many metaphors go unnoticed and attack them as forces that make the world mean in profound ways. Really push yourself to fully articulate all the implications of the metaphors you find. When you do, you'll find they represent a way of seeing the world and assigning power.

Format: MLA.

Due Date:  January 28th