One thought the author wrote about was the topic of why metaphors are not reversible. This struck me immediately because I had never thought of this concept before. He gave examples such as “my jail is a job” and “a pump is a kind of paintbrush” and this resonated with me because they way people see metaphors is as a comparison between two things that share a common characteristic. So, if these two objects/concepts share a characteristic, why can’t the comparison be used both ways? The phrase “my job is a jail” makes sense to most people who read it because the job isn’t enjoyable just as jail isn’t either. But when you flip it to say “my jail is a job” it has some sort of meaning but it is not as easily picked up as the previous statement. The person could be saying their jail in life is their job but it takes more of an explanation which isn’t the goal of a metaphor.
The author wanted to explain what a metaphor is to him but using a metaphor to do so. He used a room as the source and the room contains windows and doors. These windows are able to be placed up on a wall or lower. The position in which they are placed determines the perspective a person will see if they look outside. If they are low, they see grass and if they are high, they see the trees. This is how metaphors works because the result or interpretation varies from person to person. One person may see a metaphor such as “a lawyer is a shark” as a lawyer is cut throat and another person could view it as the lawyer is a strong individual that rules the area it is in. There’s many different perspectives a metaphor can hold and that is the beauty of them because they are able to reach many people in many ways.
Erard also mentioned the metaphor “…arguments are wars.” This quote can have a couple different meanings when read because people could see the connection of taking sides but also that the evidence used in arguments is similar to the weapons used in war. This metaphor also demonstrates the concept of metaphors being able to have more than one meaning or purpose that it wants to convey to the audience.
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