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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Chapter 13: Pure Language
Explanation and Analysis—Word Casings:
Rebecca's academic research in Chapter 13 deals with the emergence of "pure language" in English during the near future. Importantly, and perhaps ironically, the speaker uses a metaphor to describe the manner in which commonplace words have lost their meaning.
Rebecca, Alex's wife, is in every sense "an academic star." She has recently published a book on the phenomenon that, amid this new technological age, certain words have become obsolete and meaningless. Alex reconstructs her scholarly arguments:
Her new book was on the phenomenon of word casings, a term she'd invented for words that no longer had meaning outside their quotation marks. English was full of these empty words—"friend" and "real" and "story" and "change"—words that had been shucked of their meanings and reduced to husks.
Word casings, Alex explains, is a term Rebecca has invented to describe words that remain in the vocabulary of English speakers but no longer signify anything meaningful. His explanation features a metaphor comparing these obsolete words to corn: the concepts these words signify are, it seems, the "ear" of the corn and the empty words themselves (the "casings") are the "husks."
This metaphor captures a startling future for the English language and the culture that shapes it. Words that held a certain sincerity will no longer be of use amid the inauthenticity of the technological age. Moreover, the vehicle of this metaphor—that is, the noun used to represent something else, in this case the "corn"—has an agricultural connotation to it. Here agriculture, and nature more broadly, suggests something genuine or "real." By using agricultural language here, Alex's metaphor implicitly gestures toward a sharp contrast between the genuine, meaningful language of the past and the comparatively empty and inauthentic language of today, which have been "reduced to husks" by technological advancements.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Lulu's Language:
Chapter 13 of A Visit from the Goon Squad focuses on the evolution of language in the near future, particularly as it is influenced by the technological age. Idioms and metaphors within this "pure language" indeed expose a generational divide between Alex and Lulu as they work on Bennie's social media campaign.
Partway through Chapter 13, Alex and Lulu communicate through their handsets using both oral and written speech. As they speak, they face gaps between their two languages, and Lulu corrects Alex when he uses obsolete phrases:
"No one says 'viral' anymore," Lulu said. "I mean, maybe thoughtlessly, the way we still say 'connect' or 'transmit'—those old mechanical metaphors that have nothing to do with how information travels."
Lulu's responds to Alex using the slang term "viral" by informing him that it is no longer an intelligible idiom to people. She provides more examples of phrases that fell out of use with the advent of a new technological age. Information no longer travels under the old mechanics, so terms like "connect" or "transmit" have lost their currency.
Lulu and Alex continue to discuss those idioms and metaphors that became outmoded under "pure language." Charged metaphors, Lulu explains, are disingenuous because they not only describe concepts but possess judgment as well. She responds to Alex using two seemingly commonplace metaphors that have taken on unsavory connotations:
"And see, those metaphors—'up front' and 'out in the open'—are part of a system we call atavistic purism. AP implies the existence of an ethically pure state [...]"
Again, Lulu corrects Alex on his outdated language. This time, however, it is not the advent of new technology that renders "up front" and "out in the open" obsolete but a new philosophy. Throughout Alex and Lulu's conversation, idioms and metaphors bring to light the evolution of language in the book's near future. Meaning, idioms, and dialect will become unstable as time, technology, and humanity march onward.
Related Themes:
