Week #3, Assignment #4 - Understanding Metonymy and Metaphor

• What is metaphor? A metaphor is a literary device in which one word is replacing another. The words “like” and “as.”  A metaphor has its roots in comparison; it is an expression that shows a similarity between two things on some aspects where one word is substituted for an aspect of another.  An example of this from the reading is a perfume advertisement.  An image is connected to a scent which “gives shape to a fantasy world…”  In one particular case, the “sexy allure” of an image is reflected to the musky scent of a certain perfume; this connects the two within the mind of the consumer.

• What is metonymy? A metonymy is based upon the association of a word with a concept;  a single characteristic (word, phrase, image, etc.) is used to represent a complex concept, denoting one of its properties or something associated with that concept.  An example given in the readings is of the image of the White House signifying the entire executive branch of the U.S. government; it is the evocation of a part for the whole.

• In my original Multimodal Presentation, I did not include an example of a metaphor; this is something that I addressed in my revised presentation; however, with regard to metonymy, I used several images to evoke a familiarity. For example, with regard to the concept of “sports,” I included an images that contained various pieces of sports equipment; I wanted to evoke the familiarity of well-known sports from the beginning of my presentation. Another instance of metonymy that I included is with regard to the “Competition” slide; the vision of a rider, in front of an audience, wearing a medal on her neck evokes the idea of her having won a competition.  I feel that that was another success application of the literary device of metonymy.  One example that may not have been the best use of metonymy was the image for “rules.”  I included a dressage course; however, the image may have not clearly show what rules were needed for successfully completing the riding course.

Presentations reviewed: 

1.  Jared St. Martin Brown

I feel that this image was a clear example of a metaphor.  Jared is presenting the “minds of the future,” which are clearly represented by the young children in the image. Many references are made to the concept that “children are our future;” Jared captures that concept with his image. 

 

I feel that Jared captured the concept of metonymy through this picture by utilizing the abstract painting to represent the concept of “creativity.”

2.  Nicole Holyfield

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1b4TVjSo1aAu54ULxiRx_ShWoGxWAoIEfqemOK1Ih6gk/edit#slide=id.g3484e886e_270I like how Nicole captured the idea of shoes being jewelry for the feet.  I think that this is a nice example of a metaphor, as shoes are not typically considered “jewelry;” however, Nicole made the metaphor work. (The blog would not allow me to take a screenshot, so I included the link)

 

 I think that Nicole utilized the literary device of metonymy by choosing ballet shoes to represent the concept of dance.  By seeing the ballet shoes, one immediately has the concept of ballet/dance come to mind.

3.  Cara Pinti  (again, I could not screenshot the presentation slides; however, I could copy the images)

Cara used the comparison of scrapbooking to therapy for her metaphor.

Cara utilized the literary device of metonymy by utilizing the “archival quality” symbol to represent the types of materials one must use to ensure photo safety when scrapbooking.

 

Citations:

Holyfield, N. (2014, June 1).  Shoes Item of Footwear [Web log message]. Retrieved on June 7, 2014 from http://naholyfield.blogspot.com/2014/06/multimodal-presentation.html

Orden, A.  (n.d.). metaphor-metonymy. Retrieved June 7, 2014, from http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/metaphormetonym.htm

Pinti, C. (2014, May 29).  For the love of scrapbooking [Web log message].  Retrieved on June 7, 2014 from http://carapinti.blogspot.com/2014/05/may-29-2014-i-have-developed-passion.html

St. Martin Brown, J. (2014, June 1). Play!- a multimodal presentation [Web log message]. Retrieved on June 7, 2014 from http://reinventingthewing.blogspot.com