Life and death metaphors in some short stories by jack london from cognitive perspective

Concluding remarks on objective 1 – The common type of metaphor for Life and Death image in Jack London’s short stories.... In Jack London‘s short stories, the battle between Lifeand Dea

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

HA NOI - 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOIUNIVERSITY 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 ThesisField: English Linguistics Code: 60.22.15

Supervisor: Associate Professor VõĐaịQuang , Ph.D.

HA NOI - 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration……… i

Acknowledgement. ii

Astract ……….…iii

Table of contents……… iv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

1.2.1 Aims of the study 2

1.2.2 Objectives of the study 2

1.3 Significance of the study 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Structure of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Overview of different theories on metaphor 5

2.2 Conceptual metaphor 6

2.2.1 What is meant by “conceptual metaphor”? 6

2.2.2 How metaphor structures our thoughts 6

2.2.3 Mapping as a major function of metaphors 7

2.3 Highlighting and Hiding 8

2.4 Coherence and Consistence 8

2.5 Previous studies related to the theme of this thesis 9

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

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 1 – The common type of metaphor for Life and Death image in Jack London’s short stories 38

5.1.2 Concluding remarks on objective 2 – The markers of coherence and consistence between the Life and Death metaphors 38

5.1.3 Concluding remarks on objective 3 - 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

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION1.1 Rationale of the study

Nowadays people have witnessed a great proliferation of works in cognitivegrammar, most of which are related to the field of metaphor According to Lakoff &Johnson (1980), there is a set of metaphorical concepts with which weconceptualize the world, or better, our worldviews Following this, metaphor israther 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 ismetaphorically structured and defined.‖ This means that we tend to conceptualizemetaphorically certain aspects of life in a systematic way These authors offer awide range of metaphors that cover basic aspects of life by structuringmetaphorically one concept in terms of another

Apparently, the high frequency of metaphor in general and conceptual metaphor inliterature is one of the interesting fields for linguistics because it has an undeniableinfluence 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 reallife Because of the woven of imagination and real life, the language used onliterature is not only imaginative but also realistic, which allows people to examinemetaphors in both ―ordinary and extraordinary‖ perspectives

There are a number of researchers and linguists take metaphors in literature asfavorite topic for their studying As Semino & Steen, (2008: 233) metaphors inliterature is considered ―more create, novel, original, striking, rich, interesting,complex, difficult, and interpretable‖ than conventional metaphor Among variousmetaphor concepts, Life and Death metaphors have been taken into consideration bymany linguistics But it seems that the Life and Death metaphors are often

investigated separately For that reason, the present paper would like to takeinvestigation in both metaphor concepts for the image of Life and Death.

Jack London, whose fiction clearly indicates the ways in which both his personalexperiences and his reading shaped his outlook, always showed the theme of man'sattempts to survive the forces of nature, the threat of savages, and the competitionwith other fortune seekers In Jack London‘s short stories, the battle between Lifeand 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 ofLife and Death in some short stories by Jack London from the cognitiveperspective

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 insome 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 bebrought 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 JackLondon‘s short stories seen from the cognitive perspective?

based on the framework advocated by Lakoff & Johnson?

1.3 Significance of the study

Metaphor is one of the most basic phenomena in human language This kind ofstudy has significance not only for investigation into language in use, but also forthe research of human mind Besides theoretical significance, this study also shedslight on second language teaching and learning This thesis aims to analyzemetaphorical sayings of Life and Death from the cognitive perspective, i.e to viewthe sayings of Life and Death from the perspective of the Conceptual MetaphorTheory 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 metaphoricalexpression 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 justinvestigates the conceptual metaphors for Life and Death expressed in some famousworks 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‘sperspective

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 forfurther research have been supplied This subsection brings about the practical value

to the thesis from which readers can, to different degrees, benefit

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW2.1 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 sharessome fundamental presumptions, secondly, the cognitive approach, which, despitebeing very recent, has become the most influential theory of metaphor (Richardt,

From cognitive point of view, as stated by Lakoff and Johnson, our ordinaryconceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentallymetaphorical in nature Without knowing it, we use metaphors on a daily basis inour language, thought and in the way we experience things because our conceptualsystem is largely metaphorical This means that metaphor consists of conceptualmetaphors, which is cognitive in nature, and various linguistic expressions of theseconceptual metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson 2003: 50)

Lakoff and Johnson explore our conceptual system by looking at language They arguethat as communication is based on the same conceptual system that we use in thinkingand 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 thismetaphorical 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 ouractions during an argument are actually structured by the concept of war It is ametaphor ―that we live by in this culture; it structures the actions we perform inarguing‖

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 ofanother‖ A metaphorical expression can be just one word, or it can be a phrase or asentence It is even possible to regard an entire story as a metaphor for life or theworld (Goatly, 2011: 109) The following part will look into the structure andmechanics of metaphor in order to arrive at a definition of metaphor that will beused in this study

2.2.2 How metaphor structures our thoughts

According to Lakoff and Johnson‘s theory, a conceptual metaphor is a conceptabout 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 thatmetaphor consists of conceptual metaphors, which is cognitive in nature, andvarious 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 MONEYmetaphor also allows us to treat our time as something value that should not bewasted or should at least be spent or even invested wisely

6

It is the fact that metaphor not only rules the way we think of the world, but alsohow we interact with it An unconventional conceptual metaphor, on the other hand,would require an unconventional linguistic expression, at least to a certain degree.(Lakoff & Tunrner, 1989: 50)

2.2.3 Mapping as a major function of metaphors

There are two main parts of a conceptual metaphor namely source domain andtarget domains The mapping of a source domain onto the target domain is the waymetaphor transfers meaning from one area to another In fact, metaphor is a relationbetween conceptual domains, so that the way we talk about the source domain can

be used for the target domain thanks to the systematic correspondences between thetwo That it is systematic means that multiple aspects of the source domain –appearances, functions, and relations – may be mapped onto the target domain

A mapping is the systematic set of correspondences that exist between constituent

elements of the source and the target domain Many elements of target conceptscome from source domains and are not preexisting To know a conceptual metaphor

is to know the set of mappings that applies to a given source-target pairing (Wiki)

According to the invariance principle, held by Lakoff (as well as others), all of the

image-schematic structure of the source that is consistent with the target is mappedonto the target (Kövecses, 2003: 84) Kövecses claims that mappings are based onthe ―main meaning focus‖ of a source domain, i.e ―the central knowledge thatpertains to a particular entity or event within a speech community.‖ (Kövecses,2003: 82)

According to Kövecses (2003: 311 - 312), the structure of a conceptual metaphor iscomplex because the two domains of thought exist simultaneously; he also showsten interacting components that make up a conceptual metaphor known asexperiential basis, source domain, target domain, relationship between the sourceand the target , metaphorical linguistic expressions, mappings, entailments, blends,non-linguistic realization and cultural models

2.3 Highlighting and Hiding

According to Lakoff & Johnson, Metaphorical structuring is always partial andnever total It can never be full because of the two main reasons; firstly, the twoconcepts would be exactly the same thing instead of one concept structuringanother The part of the metaphorical concept which does not fit is left out because

it is not relevant On the other hand, metaphorical structuring also keeps the focusoff certain aspects of a concept because these aspects do not fit in with thatmetaphor So part of a concept is highlighted, while other parts remain hidden.Lakoff & Johnson use ARGUMENT IS WAR as an example In this metaphoricalconcept, we focus on the aspect of attack and defence in arguments This aspect ofthe metaphor, therefore, is highlighted What is left out, however, is that you alsohave a cooperative aspect to argument Lakoff and Johnson write that the personyou are having an argument with could also be seen as someone who is ―givingyou his time, a valuable commodity, in an effort at mutual understanding‖ But thecooperative aspect of argument is hidden because we use the metaphorical conceptARGUMENT IS WAR Metaphorical concepts thus always have a part which isused and an unused part

The metaphorical concept Lakoff and Johnson use to show how the used part andthe unused part work can also be seen in metaphor THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS.The part of the metaphor which is being used can be found in expressions such as

―Is that the foundation of your theory‖ and ―The theory needs more support‖ Onthe contrary, buildings have aspects beside the outer shell and construction Theyhave doors, windows, a roof, rooms, hallways, etc These aspects of buildings areunused in our everyday language when using the metaphor

2.4 Coherence and Consistence

Lakoff and Johnson mention that metaphorical concepts can be coherent orconsistent Consistent metaphors ―form a single image,‖ while coherent metaphorsare ―subcategories of a major category and therefore share a major common

entailment‖ They do not form a single image but they ―fit together.‖ These authorsuse two metaphors to clarify this idea.

The first example is TIME IS A MOVING OBJECT metaphor, this metaphor isexpressed in sentences such as ―Time flies‖, ―The time will come‖, and ―Thetime for action has arrived‖

The second illustration is TIME IS STATIONARY AND WE MOVE THROUGH

IT metaphor with the manifestation in the sentences ―We‘re approaching the end

of the year‖, ―As we go through the years‖

It can be noticed two metaphors above do not form one single image In the firstcase, we stand still and time moves In the second case, we move while time standsstill But, as Lakoff and Johnson describe it, the two metaphorical concepts do shareone ―major common entailment.‖ From our point of view, time goes past us, fromfront to back Because of this shared entailment, the two concepts fit together and,therefore, are coherent even when they are not consistent

It is important to note that conceptual metaphors can vary in different cultures.Lakoff and Johnson use TIME IS MONEY because this is typically associated withthe Western culture This metaphorical concept is typical for modern industrialisedsocieties but there are cultures where this is not the case

2.5 Previous studies related to the theme of this thesis

Life and Death as an abstract field has drawn much attention from many linguistsand scholars, and so far many studies of metaphors of Life and Death from differentangles have been done Among them, there are several outstanding studies that arerelated to the topic of the present paper

First of all, the research by Hurtado (2011) is about the analysis of metaphoricallanguage in the studied corpus which demonstrates the existence of conceptual

metaphor in the field of poetry Moreover, this paper sustains that poetic thought isrooted in the human cognitive experience.

Having analyzed different theories of metaphor, the researcher concludes that thecognitive dimension of metaphor is undeniable Metaphor is not a matter of literalfalsehood or a violation of the Cooperative Principle, but it resides in thought andnot merely in words

On the other hand, this research gives evidence that poetic metaphor, deals withcentral and indispensable aspects of our conceptual systems Through the masterfuluse of metaphoric processes on which our conceptual systems are based, poetsaddress our most important issues, as life and death, and help us illuminate themthrough the extension, composition, and criticism of the basic metaphoric toolsthrough which we comprehend reality

To the same topic, Nguyen, (2011) investigates the metaphor of life, death and time

in English and Vietnamese in the light of cognitive semantics based on the framework by Lakoff and Turner The researcher tries to find out the similarities anddifferences in the use of conceptual metaphors for life, death and time in Englishand Vietnamese The study brings about some contribution to not only the theoryand the appropriate use of conceptual metaphors but the translation work as well.The study also points out that cultural awareness is at the heart of interculturalcommunication A lot of this has to do with language and behavior; withpragmatics, beliefs and values But intercultural communication should alsohighlight the areas of commonality as well as divergence in terms of cultural andlinguistic behavior All too often culturally stereotypical behavior is objectified anddescribed with insufficient reference to underlying factors that help explain andelucidate A conceptual approach to language can draw into focus areas ofdivergence and commonality at another level of awareness and provides an extradimension to the understanding of linguistic and cultural norms More specifically,advanced learners in particular need to develop a "metaphoric competence" if theyare to attain a level of proficiency in English that will equip them for professional

lives that require a high level of language awareness, knowledge, understanding andresourcefulness.

Another research on this theme is taken by Ruiz (2007) in which the researcherstudies how several death metaphors for example Death is departure, Death is cold,Death is sleep are able to account for the basic meaning and interpretation of morethan thirty popular tales and myths Besides, the researcher offers the possibility ofclassifying tales according either to the basic metaphor they contain or to thecombination of metaphors that may comprise them Additionally, the paper explores

in what ways the metaphors under scrutiny allow us to explain some of the uncannyelements of tales Finally, he suggests that these metaphors may have contributed to

an easier transmission of many fairy tales and also to make tales alike in differentsocio – settings

Sánchez (1999) tries to demonstrate that Stephen Dobyns makes an imaginative use

of conventional metaphors, and this imaginative use includes the modification ofsome conventional metaphors, either by using parts of them, as in the case of ‗thebody is a vehicle‘, or by the modification of the ‗frame‘ as in the case of ‗life is ajourney‘ In the first case, the restriction of both domains results in a more powerfulmetaphor This is also achieved by means of negative metaphors such as ‗peopleare not plants‘ And in the second case, the metaphorical concept ‗life is a journey‘

is widened to cover a broader aspect of ‗life‘, i.e., life after physical death

2.6 Summary

This chapter has provided a brief overview of different metaphor theories with thefocus on the theory employed as the basis for this research: the theory of conceptualmetaphor introduced in the work ―Metaphor We Live By‖ by Lakoff & Johnson(1980) From such reviewing, a working definition of metaphor can be obtained forthis thesis Moreover, in order to get deeper view of conceptual metaphors, someoutstanding studies that are related to the topic of the present paper are presented atthe end of the chapter

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY3.1 Principles governing the research

3.1.1 Principles governing the research type

This is a qualitative study which is intended to provide an overview of theconceptual metaphors used in Jack London‘s short stories about Life and Death.Shank (2002: 5) defines qualitative research as ―a form of systematic empirical

inquiry into meaning‖ By systematic he means ―planned, ordered and public‖,

following rules agreed upon by members of the qualitative research community By

empirical, he means that this type of inquiry is grounded in the world of experience Inquiry into meaning says researchers try to understand how others make sense of

their experience Denzin and Lincoln (2000: 3) claim that qualitative researchinvolves an interpretive and naturalistic approach: ―This means that qualitativeresearchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or tointerpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them‖

In the ground-breaking work ―Metaphors We Live By‖ (1980), Lakoff and Johnsonshowed that metaphors are in fact a fundamental, structuring mechanism in the way

we interact with and perceive the world around us; a linguistic phenomenon socommon and easily accessible that we often do not notice that something is in fact ametaphor

As stated before, the purpose of this research is to find out the conceptual metaphor

of Life and Death in Jack London‘s short stories For sayings of Life and Death,Lakoff and Turner (1989: 1-2) present a very common basic conceptual metaphor inwestern culture know as Death is departure Instead of saying someone has died, it

is very common to say that someone is gone or that he has left this world or that he has passed on In the Western culture, life and death are extremely common to be

spoken of, written and even thought with a set of basic conceptual metaphors.According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 3), we often fail to notice them asmetaphors at all because of their mundane nature Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 6) go

on to explain that the reason for this is that human thought processes are largelymetaphorical, and that metaphor is in fact a primary tool for understanding ourworld and ourselves.

Because of the fact that metaphors reside in thought instead of only in words, andthat we know unconsciously and automatically many basic metaphors forunderstanding life, the writer does not have to state in detail and explain themetaphors he uses, but can rely on the reader to know them by virtue of knowingthe basic conceptual metaphor

3.1.2 Principles for the formulation of research questions

The researcher approaches the first question by looking at the metaphors of Life andDeath in the selected short stories in order to gain an understanding of the variety ofthe metaphors used by Jack London According to Lakoff and Turner (1989: 15), avery large number of metaphorical expressions for Life and Death throughoutWestern literature works are instances of a very small number of basic conceptualmetaphors through which we comprehend Life and Death, and the researcher hopes

to find out whether this can be applied in those short stories by Jack London as well.The researcher also look at the metaphors of Life and Death presented in works byJack London and see if they could be traced back as an extension of some of themost common basic conceptual metaphors in the Western world

The hypothesis concerning the first research question is that there will be a greatdeal of versatile metaphors of Life and death in Jack London‘s works, but also thatthe majority of them can be traced back to a small number of basic conceptualmetaphors of death and also life According to Goatly (1997: 21), it is not alwaysclear whether something is metaphorical or not – it can for example only be a subcategorization – and analyzing texts examining metaphors usually requires someinterpretation The researcher understands that someone may wish to argue some ofthe choices she have made examining the data, since the metaphor exists in thereaders mind, and what is metaphorical for one reader may not be metaphorical foranother Therefore, this hypothesis is based on both the researcher‘s personal

experiences as a reader of literary works and on her knowledge concerning the use

of metaphors

The researcher approaches the conclusion on the first research question from thepoint of view of the mapping for conceptual metaphor which was held by Lakoffand Kövecses (2003: 84) that all of the image-schematic structure of the source that

is consistent with the target is mapped onto the target

In order to answer the second research question the researcher looks into theconnection between Life and Death in terms of cognitive perspective which isinherited from the Western culture According to Lakoff & Johnson, Metaphoricalstructuring is always partial and never total and that metaphorical concepts can becoherent or consistent Consistent metaphors ―form a single image,‖ while coherentmetaphors are ―subcategories of a major category and therefore share a majorcommon entailment‖ They do not form a single image but they ―fit together.‖ Forthat reason, the researcher tries work out the link between the Life and Deathmetaphor

Finally, the purpose of this study is never to find every single metaphor of Life anddeath – or something that can be counted separately – within these selected shortstories, but instead to gain a general understanding of the use of these metaphor inliterature and then to find out the possible implication for English language teachingand learning

3.2 Methods employed for the research

The major methods which are used for this method are documentary analysis andobservation First of all, official documents include journals and textbooks arecollected Any of these might give useful information, but they do not all provideobjective for the purpose of the research; therefore, they have to be contextualizedwithin the circumstances which the research needs for The task for the researcher isnot to take such documents at face value, but to find out how they were constructed,and how they are used and interpreted This is why the researcher has

to take observation as one of the favored approaches Here, the researcher adopts arole as a member of American society to get a more comprehensive perspective oflife and death in everyday language.

3.2.1 Data collections instruments

Because of the particular characteristics of the study, it seems that reading andreviewing documents are the most important and effective way to collect materialsfor the research Since it‘s very hard to find the original printing short stories ofJack London, the researcher relies mainly on the materials from reliable websites inthe Internet One of the outstanding advantages of this method is up dated, abundantand authentic After the process of researching and collecting data, the informationcontinues to be classified into different categories depending on the requirements ofthe research in order to make it easy for the researcher to find and to analyze thedata Besides collecting and reading the materials from the Internet, the mostrelevant references from the library at Hanoi National University have beenselectively read in order to support the researcher with necessary and usefulinformation

3.2.2 Data analysis techniques

After the process of reading and collecting data from Jack London‘s short stories,the researcher starts to analyze the image of Life and Death in terms of conceptualmetaphor From numerous samples taken from short stories by Jack London, theresearcher tries to choose the most interesting and concrete ones to illustrateimportant points under the investigation The next step is to synthesize theinformation analyzed in order to fit into the thesis The stage of analyzing andsynthesizing are all conducted manually By analyzing and synthesizing, theresearcher hopes to be on the right way of mapping out the image of Life and Death

in Jack London‘s works

3.2.3 Data analysis procedure

The study begins with a presentation of the theoretical background, namely thetheory of conceptual metaphor as formulated by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) andLakoff and Turner (1989), and for the purpose of the study, the researcher collectsdata through reading short stories by Jack London While reading these references,

an action of selecting relevant information is taken simultaneously After the data iscollected, the researcher starts analyzing and classifying the data into the suitablecategories of the thesis purpose After that, the researcher synthesizes all themetaphors to come the conclusion on the first research question by drawing image-schematic structures of the sources which are mapped onto the target domain fromthe point of view by Lakoff and Kövecses To find the connection between Life andDeath in terms of cognitive perspective, the researcher try to interpret the possibility

of forming a single image or just being subcategories of a major metaphor of themapping which are found in the first research question based on Lakoff‘s view

3.3 Summary

To conclude, in this chapter the two main methodological points haven beenpresented (i) The major principles governing the research (ii) The main methodsemployed for the research which includes collections instrument, data analysistechniques and data analysis procedure

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION4.1 Life Metaphors

4.1.1 Life is a journey

Traditionally, metaphor, along with other parts of ―creative‖ speech like similes,hyperboles, etc., is viewed as fundamentally linguistic in nature and is ―assigned aperipheral role in language, as an ornament or, at best, a mechanism for fillinglexical gaps in the language‖ (Deignan, 2005: 2) In their groundbreaking work

―Metaphors We Live By‖, Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 4) maintained the idea that

―the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing interms of another‖ but suggested that metaphors do not have a linguistic basis, butrather a conceptual one

One of the main basic metaphors that Lakoff and Turner use in their guide to poeticmetaphor is LIFE IS A JOURNEY Following this metaphor, authors imply that thestructure of the LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor leads to consider certaincorrespondences as a mapping between two conceptual domains, the source domain– JOURNEY and the target domain - LIFE

Dictionaries online) However, in Jack London‘s short stories, for the conceptualmetaphor ―LIFE IS A JOURNEY‖ the writer uses the source domain of aJOURNEY to understand the target domain of LIFE in which, the metaphorenvisages life as a journey, with birth as the point of embarkation and death as thefinal destination

In a manner that closely resembles ―LIFE IS A JOURNEY‖ metaphor mapped byLakoff & Johnson, ―LIFE IS A JOURNEY‖ in works by Jack London can bemapped out in the following way

Journey is Life

Life is often described as having a beginning, direction, destinations, obstacles,turns and an end In Jack London‘s works, the language which is used to describe

life is shaped by the superimposed imagery of a journey are nouns like ―trail‖,

―routine‖, ―peregrination‖, ―journey‖, ―the way of life‖, and verbs like

―follow‖, ―pass out‖, and ―come to the end‖ The following examples taken from some short stories will help us to realize how this conceptual metaphor is mapped

through the means of lexical items

―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 is Human

The way a traveler is described as part of the LIFE IS A JOURNEY conceptualmetaphor can be very revealing through the mapping of the traveler as human as in

the sentence ―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)

A traveler‘s physical trouble can be considered the difficulty in accomplishing agoal This can be considered an extension of the Traveler - Human mapping If a

traveler conducts her journey and reaches her destination injured, blind, in physicalpain, etc., it implies an unexpected, additional degree of difficulty.

―Then began as grim a tragedy of existence as was ever played a sick man that

crawled, a sick wolf that limped, two creatures dragging their dying carcasses

across the desolation and hunting each other's lives.‖ (Love of life)

A further extension of the mapping has to do with the burden of the traveler Here

we see the incorporation of the DIFFICULTY IS A BURDEN conceptual metaphorinto LIFE IS A JOURNEY In general, the challenge of the journey growsexponentially alongside the size and weight of the traveler‘s burden, something that

is reflected in the recorded speech samples below:

―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)

―Then the great tree, burdened with its weight of years and snow, played its last

part in the tragedy of life‖ (The White silence)

Weather conditions are Degree of hardships

One of the aspects of the journey domain that is used metaphorically when talkingabout the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY is the weather condition Thecourse of one‘s life may change suddenly or even come to an end just as the weather

is unpredictable and changeable A clear view of the horizon means a clear view ofwhat lies ahead in life, in terms of both challenges and achievements Favorableweather means that life is going on without particular difficulty and trouble On theother hand, the hardships, often unexpected are manifested metaphorically by thebad weather In jack London‘s short stories, hardships of life can be found in thefollowing examples in short story The Great Interrogation

―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‖.

Different Roads represent different Choices

On the way to reach their destination, travelers must choose and follow the certainroute When they are flanked with many options along the way, humans mustdetermine which course they want their lives to take When humans make decisionsabout their career, morality, love, life, and so on, this is the equivalent of travelerschoosing to follow one road over another Further proof that life is conceptualizedthe same way as a journey can be found in the aspect that when journeying, people

may choose different directions and road in ―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) and ―It was the way of life, and it

was just.‖ (The law of life), also human beings have to follow the different parts of

their life as in ―There was life in the Northland He would follow it, look upon it,

gloat over it.‖ (In a far country), this idea can be also illustrated in the following example taken from the short story The god of his fathers: ―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‖.

To describe coming to an impasse in life, that is to feel left without choices, the

journey without any choices invoke the imagery of a dead-end as in ―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)

4.1.2 Life is a fighting/ Life is a battle

It is the fact that not all metaphors for Life are positive The battle perspective isoften assumed by people who feel like the whole world is against them Thecharacters in short stories by Jack London often hold this school of thought becausethey experience a lot of stress, and conflict with the nature This ubiquitous survivalthesis takes on protean forms in London's early stories For examples, not only is

man forced to do battle with nature, with animals, but also with other men tosurvive.

When mapping the metaphor LIFE IS A FIGHTING/ LIFE IS A BATTLE, it isimportant to notice that we don't just talk about LIFE in terms of A BATTLE/ AFIGHTING People can actually win or lose in the battle They often consider theperson they are fighting with an opponent People attack other positions and theydefend their own They may gain and lose ground and also plan and use strategies

If people find a position indefensible, they can abandon it and take a new line ofattack Many of the things people do when they are in fighting are partiallystructured by the concept of fighting Though there is no physical battle, there is averbal battle, and the structure of an argument - attack, defense, counterattack, etc -clearly reflects this It is in this sense that the LIFE IS A FIGHTING/ LIFE IS ABATTLE metaphor is one that people live by in this culture; it structures the actionspeople perform in arguing

In Jack London‘s short stories, we can find numerous sentences reflecting this

conceptual metaphor with the lexical items through nouns and verbs such as race, survival, game, strike, drive on, decline, defy, surrender, gather strength, face, lose battle, injure, save, finish, struggle for, fight, suffer, win, smote, lose etc,.

First of all, the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS FIGHTING / LIFE IS A BATTLE iscreated with the image battle is a game of life ―which no man wins‖ This point can

be found in "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)

People fight with an opponent known as Death; let us examine some examples tohave a deeper view on this mapping

―Fate asked too much of him And, dying, he 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)

Life can be also seen as both human and their opponent, in short story Love of life

and The Great Interrogation we see ―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‖ and ―His bleak life rose up and smote him,—the vain struggle with pitiless forces”.

Struggling for survival is a vital theme for fighting, when taking part in a battle,people have to suffer, struggle, fight for their existence The most popular imagessignifying this mapping are in the sentences

―On every hand stretched the forest primeval, the home of noisy comedy and

silent tragedy Here the struggle for survival continued to wage with all its ancient

brutality.‖

―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.‖ and ―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 do 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)

People may be injured when they take part in fighting as in ―Two died under it;

others were injured for life; and the rest took the lesson to heart and ran away no

more.‖ (Lost face)

In a battle of life, people may win the fighting as in shown in the sentence ―and as

they shall continue to do till in the fulness of time the destiny of their race be

achieved.‖ (The grit of woman), and ―It is a very great medicine It has saved my

life many times.‖(Lost face)

They can lose their battle This manifestations for lost are described in the belowspeeches

―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)

4.1.3 Life is fire/ heat/ warmth

Among conceptual metaphors related to Fire, LOVE IS FIRE is one of the firemetaphor which is the most vivid illustrating the image of fire (Chang, 2006)Beside that the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS FIRE is also considered commonimage It is accepted by many culture that living organic beings have a corporaltemperature which is lost at the instant of death; therefore death is conceived asbeing characterized by coldness, while life is prototypically warm In Jack London‘sshort stories we find these metaphors, too

The metaphor LIFE IS FIRE seems to share the common mapping with themetaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY in terms of its structures First of all, when the firestarts, it means that a life exists Secondly, not all the flames burn equally in terms

of its intensity, correspondingly, not all the human‘s life are same, each may takedifferent degree intensity for life Next, the action maintaining the fire seems tocorrespond with the struggle to sustain the life Finally, when the fire is gone out,the life no longer exists For that correspondence, LIFE IS FIRE metaphor can bemapped as followed

Degree of fire is intensity of life

Fire can burn in different intensity so does life People can experience differentfeeling and have different enthusiasm of life; their life can be strong andenthusiastic or tender and long-lasting

The mapping for intensity of life is manifested by the intensity of fire Jack Londonemploys different expressions to show the level of intensity In order to show high

intensity of life, he uses such words like flame, fire, blaze, flow, burn, flicker up, dancing flame, fagot, speck etc.

A noteworthy illustration for this point is taken from the short story ―The wit ofPorportuk‖ , ―The white silence‖, ―To build a fire‖, and ―‖Love 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 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)

Whoever sees the dying fire will understand how gorgeous it is when flickering upbefore it faint then dies out Life is identifying in the same manner On the way todeath, the character in the short story Love of life wants to live again at a bright

moment Life as fire is precious but extremely fragile ―He rested wherever he fell,

crawled on whenever the dying life in him flickered up and burned less dimly.‖

(Love of life)

And In the white silence, the frail life is described as a sole speck: ―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 is maintaining life

Fire can wither and life can die out without maintenance It insists that if peoplecan‘t keep passionate flames alive, we may lose our life And the only way ofmaintaining life is to keep the fire burning In Jack London‘s short stories, theconcept of fire is expressed not only by the word fire but also by the related words

to fire such as fagots, heat, numbness, flame, etc,.

To keep the fire burning, the verbs such as ―feed‖, ―perish‖, ―replenish‖ are used

in ―At last the measure of his life was a handful of 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 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)

When the light is out, life is out

Seeing that in the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY, life has departure,LIFE IS FIRE metaphor takes the same identities When fire starts to burn, lifebegins And when is out, life is also out In reality, we hardly see eternal flame.When the fire dies out, the life will no longer exist This mapping can be found inthe following sentences in the short story The wit of Porportuk and The greatintegration

"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)

4.1.4 Life is light

This interpretation is reinforced by that are conventional in our everyday conceptualsystem Also, the Life is light metaphor provides a cognitive schema of life circle whichstarts when a light starts and ends with the darkness as the moment of death This point can

be found in the sentence ―Bursting into its bloom after the dawn, snow-white, warming topink under the hours of sun, and quickening to scarlet with the dark from which its beautyand its being would never emerge, it seemed to him that it epitomized man's life andpassion.‖ (The Kanada surf)

Moreover, this metaphor is understood in the way that where there is light, the life exist, atthe same time, when the light disappears, life no longer presents as in ―And not one in ten

of the tribe lived to meet the sun when it came back in the spring.‖ (The law of life)

The line ―Morning brought consciousness to the stricken man, and Malemute Kid

bent closer to catch his whispers‖ in short story ―The white silence‖ also evokes the

metaphors LIFE IS LIGHT Moreover, this mapping can be found in others example

as in the following speeches

―The sun was coming back again It would be with them to-morrow, and the next

day, and the next.‖ (In a far country)

and ―For sometimes he lat without movement, the genial sunshine pouring upon him and suturing his miserable body with its warmth.‖ (Love of life)

4.2 Death metaphors

4.2.1 Death is the end of a journey

We conceive of death as something to which we are all subject Death is inevitableand final It would be appear that these correspondences between the domains LIFEand JOURNEY do not appear without the existence of the other As mentionedabove, when the mapping of Human are traveler shows the idea of person leading a