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Task E - Semantic deviations
Our analysis of Steinbeck Passage
The Steinbeck passage is more or less devoid of semantic deviation, and
this is another way in which the writing seems simple, objective and photographic.
Nonetheless, even in this very simple passage there are some deviations,
giving rise to metaphorical depiction. In S2, the lines do not literally
cut down the man's cheeks, and 'stretched' (S3) would normally require
a whole person as its subject, not a part of a person ('lips' here). But
these metaphors are so common that you may not even notice that they are
metaphors until you are pushed to think harder about them. In other words,
these semantic deviations may not seem very deviant at all because they
are not unusual.
There is an important general point here. Some metaphors, and the semantic
deviations that underlie them, will seem striking - because they are unusual
and innovative. Others may be used so much that they seem normal. Note,
for example, that we have a general 'Life is a Journey' metaphor which
we habitually use, and which has a large variety of more specific instantiations
(e.g. 'She's on the road to ruin', 'She's on the straight and narrow now',
'She's struggling hard to reach her goal'). These 'normal' metaphors are
so normal that we may not even notice their metaphorical nature.
If you want to explore how pervasive these normal metaphors are in everyday
language, look at George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980) Metaphors we
Live By.
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