Metaphor and Metonymy

            Metaphors and metonymy are used throughout any type of literature that one reads.  Both these methods are used in daily life quite frequently without us truly realizing it.  In this blog, I will give the two major examples that I have come across in my life as of late while explaining the significance and meaning of a metaphor and metonymy.  Also, by using the examples, I will show how there can be confusion between metaphors and metonymy when the reader is left to interpret the meaning of the phrase or literature.

            Hayden White states, “Metaphor is essentially representational...in metonymy, phenomena are implicitly apprehended as bearing relationships to one another”.  These two ideas are very similar and have a few specific differences.  A metaphor allows for two things that are not similar to be compared and to show a resemblance.  Metonymy is utilized to pair a word’s meaning with another word while not using that specific word.  An example of a metaphor is ‘life is a journey’.  Life and journey are not two things that are used in the same context but they do have some resemblances so they are a metaphor.  An example of metonymy would be saying as White states, “a roar of thunder”.  A roar of thunder is a metonymy because the word roar is a substitute for the word sound.  Sound and roar have a relationship in which they both relate to the auditory sense. 

 There has been a metaphor and metonymy confusion that has happened in my life as of late.  For another one of my classes, the professor wrote on the syllabus “map of positions, stakeholders, audiences, and primary actors for issue” when referring to an assignment that he had assigned us.  The students took this in a metonymical way; we thought that we would be creating a map or a diagram of all these ideas.  However, the professor told us that it was actually a metaphor to something else.  The true assignment was writing a paper about the previously stated parts of the assignment.  The professor utilized metaphor in his assignments when the students interpreted it in a metonymical way.

I had another metaphor and metonymy confusion when I was reading for my Theology class.  We are studying the prophets of the Bible and I was reading from the book of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah 2:20 states, “Long ago you broke your yoke, you tore off your bonds. “I will not serve,” you said. On every high hill, under every green tree, you gave yourself to harlotry.”  On first sight, I was bewildered to see the phrase harlotry.  Harlotry means to fornicate with a prostitute.  I had taken a metonymical approach to the Scripture and had not thought about the use of language that Jeremiah had been utilizing.  In this instance, Jeremiah had been using a metaphor to depict the severity of Israel’s sin against God.  Metaphors and metonymy are very closely related and can be easily misinterpreted by a non-careful reader.

Metaphors and metonymy are used in daily life very frequently.  The individual must be careful to interpret the true meaning of each phrase that he or she reads.  Metaphors have a very specific relationship between two objects whereas metonymy has a relationship within the meaning.