a study of water and fire as metaphors in american and vietnamese short stories of the 20th century = nghiên cứu ẩn dụ nước và lửa trong truyện ngắn thế kỷ 20 của mỹ và việt nam

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale for the study 1
2. Scope of the study 2
3. Objectives of the study 2
4. Methods of the study 3
5. Design of the study 3

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT 4
Chapter 1: Theoretical background 4
1.1 An overview of metaphor 4
1.1.1 What is metaphor? 4
1.1.2 Components of metaphor 5
1.1.3 Types of metaphor 6
1.2 Metaphor in literature 7
1.3 American short stories of the 20
th
century 9
1.4 Vietnamese short stories of the 20
th
century 10
Chapter 2: Water and fire as metaphors in American and Vietnamese short stories of
the 20

th
century 12
2.1 The popularity of water and fire as metaphors 12
2.2 The formation of metaphors of water and fire 14
2.2.1 Lexical items 14
2.2.2 Parts of speech 20
2.3 The functions of metaphors of water and fire 23
2.3.1 The description of strong emotions 23
v

2.3.2 The creation of imagery 32
2.4 Summary of the chapter 36

PART THREE: CONCLUSION 38
1. An overview of the study 38
2. Pedagogical implications 40
3. Suggestions for further studies 42

REFERENCES 43
APPENDIX A I
APPENDIX B II
APPENDIX C III
APPENDIX D VIII
APPENDIX E XX
APPENDIX F XXIX
APPENDIX G XXX

1

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
Figurative language in general and metaphor in particular has always been an
interesting and inspiring research field. Though a large amount of research has been done
on metaphor and metaphorical expressions, it still needs further investigation. Metaphor
plays a very important role not only in language study but also in everyday life, because
many metaphorical concepts are used by ordinary people without being recognized or
being aware of. In ―Metaphors we live by‖ (George Lakoff & Mark Johnsen, 2003: 4) the
authors state that ―metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in
thought and action‖. Thus, it can be said that metaphor is a powerful tool helping people
use and enjoy the use of language.
To have a thorough look at the matter of metaphor, literature is the best choice.
Literature can be considered the product of imagination, but it reflects real life. The
language used in literature is therefore both imaginative and realistic, which means we can
examine metaphors in both ―ordinary and extraordinary‖ perspectives. Nowhere is
figurative language found in such great amount and variety as in literature, and so is a great
source of authentic metaphors, which are employed to create imagery and enhance the
powerful effect of the language use. In fact a number of researchers have chosen literature

as a means of studying language.
Among myriads of metaphorical concepts, I would like to have a close look at the use
of water and fire in literature for some reasons. First, water and fire are two essential
elements of life and of cultures, which appear in literature universally. It is believed that
water represents the East and fire the West, (Trần Ngọc Thêm, Nước, văn hoá và hội nhập,
/>3). Therefore, water and fire in cultural contexts is worth being researched. Second, water
and fire are also common metaphorical concepts in everyday communication. People
sometimes integrate water and fire in their communicative exchanges without realizing
they are metaphors, for example, ―hot-tempered‖, ―heated discussion‖, ―tears streaming
down‖, or ―flooding with work‖. Last but not least, I personally developed a great interest
in the use of water and fire as metaphors when I noticed that these two elements, though
contrastive, sometimes denote the same things. Such sentences as ―Anger rushed over him‖
2

or ―What you said added fuel to the fire‖ are easily heard in everyday communication. They
show that the abstract feeling of anger can be expressed by two opposite things which are
able to exclude themselves. Therefore, it is fascinating to explore how water and fire
metaphors are created in literature and used in real life.
To conclude, because there has not been any detailed research on the creation and use
of water and fire as metaphors in literature though water and fire in culture has been
scrupulously investigated, this study is hoped to contribute something to the research of
metaphors in literature and to the teaching and learning foreign literature of students of
English.
2. Scope of the study
This paper mainly focuses on how water and fire metaphors are created in literature
and what they convey to the readers through an in-depth comparision between American
short stories and Vietnamese short stories of the 20
th
century from cultural and stylistic
points of view. The reason for that is metaphor and literature are such large researching

fields that it is impossible to cover the whole areas in the limited space of this paper.
To keep within the restriction of time and scale while ensure the ample language style
a collection of data from a variety of different American and Vietnamese short stories by
influential or recognized authors of the 20
th
century is assembled. The data must provide a
wide range of language use and style, with relatively modern language which is close to
everyday communication as well as maintains the distinguished feature of literature.
Therefore 30 American stories and 30 Vietnamese stories of all stages of the 20
th
century
are randomly picked out as the database for this paper.
3. Objectives of the study
This paper is carried out in order to fulfill four main objectives:
 To explore the use and formation of the metaphors of water and fire in the
linguistic perspective, basing on the data from American and Vietnamese short
stories of the 20
th
century.
 To compare water and fire metaphors in American and Vietnamese literatures.
 To connect the use of water and fire as metaphors from the linguistic angle and
from the cultural viewpoint.
3

 To suggest implications for teaching American literary texts to Vietnamese learners
whose major is English language.
4. Methods of the study
The overriding researching methods used to conduct this study are quantitative and
descriptive methods. In order to have an insight into the use and the creation of the
metaphors of water and fire in literature, the data collected from various short stories in

both languages, English and Vietnamese, are analyzed, synthesized and computed and
finally documented. The findings and conclusions of the paper are based on the facts and
figures produced via these methods.
5. Design of the study
This thesis paper is divided into three main parts, namely Introduction, Development
and Conclusion. The contents of these parts are presented as follows.
Part I introduces the rationale, scope, objectives, research methods and format of the
study.
Part II includes two main chapters. Chapter 1 provides the theoretical background of
the study regarding major concerns in the area of metaphor and literature, and brief
information about American and Vietnamese short stories of the 20
th
century. Chapter 2 is
the main focus of the paper, which investigates the use of water and fire metaphors in
American and Vietnamese short stoires. It deals with the popularity, the creation and the
functions of water and fire metaphors.
Part III is the conclusion of the study in which a summary of the findings, pedagocial
implications for teaching and studying literature and suggestions for further studies will be
made in a brief manner.








4

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical background
1.1 An overview of metaphor
1.1.1 What is metaphor?
The nature of metaphor can be understood from linguistic and cognitive perspectives.
Traditionally, metaphor or linguistic metaphor is viewed as a figure of speech in which an
expression is used to represent something that it does not denote literally. For example, in
the sentence ―He’s going to ask for her hand‖, the bolded phrase refers to the action of
proposing marriage to someone. The similarity between them is that when someone is
proposing marriage, he wants to put a ring on his life partner’s fingers. In terms of
linguistics, metaphor is a non-literal use of language, a ―characteristic of language alone, a
matter of words rather than thought or action‖ (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003: 4).
Based on cognitive linguistics, another point of view emerged, defining metaphor as
―understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain‖ (Kovecses,
2002). Similarly in ―Metaphor we live by (2003: 37) Lakoff & Johnson view metaphor as a
―way of conceiving of one thing in terms of another, and its primary function is
understanding‖. This kind of metaphor is called conceptual metaphor. Our everyday
functioning, including communication is governed by a number of concepts. For instance,
in most culture people think and talk about life or love in terms of journeys. These
concepts are so common that most of us do not consider them metaphors, or some kind of
figure of speech. Our concept of love and life is expressed by speakers of English as
follows:
My life is going to an end./ He’ll end up in prison.
Our relationship is going nowhere./ We won’t go far in this marriage.
Obviously, these expressions are derived from the way we talk about journeys, even
though we do not straightly say ―My life is a journey‖. We talk about things the way we
conceive them.
Despite different ways to define metaphors, they meet one another at a point that
metaphor is considered a representation of one thing by another one based on their certain
similarities. However, Galperine (1981: 140) thinks that it is wrong to assume the basis of
metaphor is the similarity of two domains. The nature of metaphor is, according to him, is

the identification of two notions when the metaphor maker finds in them ―certain features
5

which to his eye have something in common‖ (1981: 140). Therefore, two domains of a
metaphor do not necessarily have factual affinities but something creators of metaphors
accept similar.
Metaphor in language and thought are closely related. Linguistic metaphors are the
realisations of conceptual metaphors. The mapping ―TARGET DOMAIN is/as SOURCE
DOMAIN‖ is represented by ―metaphorical linguistic expressions‖ (Kovecses, 2002: 4).
For example, the conceptual metaphor LIFE AS A JOURNEY is commonly made explicit
by linguistic metaphors like on the right way/ at a crossroads in life/ going nowhere/
looking for a diversion, etc. Therefore, it is essential to take both conceptual metaphors and
metaphorical linguistic expressions into serious consideration.
1.1.2 Components of metaphor
Metaphor, according to I.A. Richards in the Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936), consists of
two parts: the tenor and vehicle. The tenor is the original subject to which attributes are
ascribed. The vehicle is both the words and concepts evoked by the words, i.e. the
metaphorical words (Source: The components of
metaphors are cognitively called the target domains and source domains (Lakoff and
Johnson, 2003), corresponding to the tenor and the vehicle respectively. These two
components are either actually related or deliberately made related depending on the
metaphor maker’s own perception.
The attributes or qualities of the vehicle which are mapped or transferred back onto the
tenor are called dimension. For example, in the sentence ―… the girl entered his mind,
moving with perfect freedom through its shut doors and filling chamber after chamber
with her light.‖ (The country husband, John Cheever), ―mind‖ is the tenor or the target
domain, and the vehicle or source is a house with chambers. The shut doors and many
chambers attribute the secret and complication to the mind. The action of entering the
house with a light means trying to understand what one is thinking. The dimension of
―mind-is-a-house‖ metaphor can be interpreted that way. However, a vehicle may have

several dimensions, so it can be used to convey different meanings.
In order to connect the tenor and the vehicle, a linking verb is generally used. The
most common formula is ―the tenor is the vehicle‖, in which the verb ―to be‖ is employed.‖
A typical example is: ―All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players‖
6

(Shakespeare, As you like it, Act II, Scene VII, lines 139-166). Nevertheless the linking
verb ―to be‖ is not always the only choice, but the tenor and the vehicle is connected by
means of other lexical or grammatical devices. Let us look back at the above example of
―mind-is-a-house‖. The vehicle (a house) is mapped onto the tenor (the mind) through
different verbs (enter, move, fill) and nouns (shut doors, chamber, light), and a parallel
structure. This creates a large ranger of metaphorical expressions.
According to cognitive linguists, the relationship between the target and the source
domains is represented through a set of mappings, the systematic correspondences
(Kovecses, 2002: 6) that help us understand the target domain. This set of mappings that
characterize the LOVE-IS-A-JOURNEY conceptual metaphor, used by Kovecses in the
book ―Metaphor: A practical introduction‖ (2002: 7) is adopted to illuminate this point.
Source: JOURNEY Target: LOVE
The traveller  The lovers
The vehicle  The love relationship itself
The journey  The events in the relationship
The obstacles encountered  The difficulties experienced
The destination  The goal of the relationship
In whatever perspective it is seen, there are typically three components of metaphors,
namely the tenor (target domain), the vehicle (source domain) and the connection between
them (dimension or a set of mappings). As a matter of fact these components play an
indispensible part in ―understanding‖ metaphors, whether linguistically or cognitively.
1.1.3 Types of metaphor
Metaphor can be classified into a wide range of categories, mainly according to the
cognitive functions of the metaphor and the level of its usage.

As regards the criterion of cognitive functions of metaphors, Kovecses (2002) shares
the viewpoint with Lakoff & Johnson (2003) over these functions: mapping the structure of
the source domain in order to understand the target domain, giving an ontological status to
abstract target concepts and creating coherence among metaphors. Therefore, structural
metaphors, ontological metaphors and orientational metaphors are official names for
these functions respectively.
On the other hand, this paper also deals with a more traditional way to classify
metaphors - according to the level of usage – there are dead, faded and living metaphors.
7

This classification is of great importance in understanding metphors in literature, most of
which are living metaphors, or metaphors originating from conventional ones.
 Dead metaphors
Dead metaphors are the ones which ―have been so often used that speaker and hearer have
ceased to be aware that the words used are not literal‖ (Fowler, 1985: 359). Dead
metaphors are hard to be recognized because their direct meanings are completely lost,
which means English vocabulary consists of a huge number of dead metaphors
unconsciously used in everyday language.
 Faded metaphors
Faded metaphors have lost their ―freshness due to long and traditional use‖ (Trường,
1993: 81). For a long while they are novel expressions which empower the literal meaning
of words; however, when used too often as a saver for anyone who cannot develop original
language to express ideas, they become clichés or euphemism. No longer do faded
metaphors contain force and imaginative effectiveness.
 Living metaphors
Living or active metaphors are used unconventionally. Kovecses (2002: 29-32) and
Lakoff & Johnson (2003: 212-213) employ the term ―conventionality‖ to distinguish the
living metaphor from the dead ones. According to the scale of conventionality, living
metaphors are original expressions used in an impressive and artistic way and have not
become part of everyday linguistic use. They are often creative and sometimes absurd if

out of context, as a result of individual reasoning and experiencing. This kind of metaphor
dominates the art of literature, where people can freely play with words in their own
imagination.
To sum up, the boundary between living, faded and dead metaphors is not very
conspicuous. A faded (dying) metaphor for one person may be a completely original
metaphor for the other. This depends on each individual’s knowledge, experience, and
culture. On the other hand, for most people who are not researchers or scholars it is
virtually impossible to realize dead metaphors. The differentiation between these types will
be helpful, however, to this paper because it involves metaphors in literature.
1.2 Metaphor in literature
Metaphors are dominant in literature, appearing in every genre from poetry to prose,
from essays to epics, utilized to bring literary imagery to life, playing a major part in
8

intensive reading and appreciating literature. Metaphors in literature are said to be
innovative products of genius writers; in fact, ―metaphor is a matter of thoughts – all kinds
of thought‖ (Larkoff & Turner, 1989), so most of eccentric metaphors in literature have
roots from ordinary materials. In other words, ordinary conceptual metaphors are
transformed into poetic expressions through the process of extending and elaborating
(Kovecses, 2002). However, many metaphors are not ordinarily part of the way we
conceptualise our experience, which are called image metaphors (Lakoff & Turner, 1989).
Extending, according to Kovecses (2002: 47), means introducing a new conceptual
element in the source domain; elaborating means that an existing conceptual element is
depicted in extraordinary way. The following stanza from ―Road not taken‖ by Robert
Frost is a good illustration.
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;”

(Road not taken, Robert Frost)
What do you think about when you read this? Is this simply a description of a person who
is travelling on a road which diverges and he does not know which direction to take? It is
certain that this poem cannot be interpreted that way. The principal conceptual metaphor in
the poem is LIFE-IS-A-JOURNEY, but the diverging road in a wood is clearly an
extended conceptual element that symbolizes life. Therefore, it can be understood that
someone has to make a difficult decision that will have a great impact on his life and he
still cannot make up his mind. Furthermore, instead of using an ordinary metaphorical
expression like ―I’m at the crossroads in life‖ the author elaborates it to make a
picturesque description of a journey in the wood and the difficulty of choosing a direction
the traveler is facing. The novelty created with the extension and elaboration of LIFE-IS-
A-JOURNEY metaphor leaves a profound impression on readers, putting them in thought
and imagination, which cannot be done by ordinary language.
The second type – image metaphors – can be noticed in a poem by Emily Dickinson:
“Fame is a bee. / It has a song— / It has a sting— / Ah, too, it has a wing.” The metaphor
―fame is a bee‖ is really fresh and creative. What aspects of a bee can we map onto the
fame? The choice of ―a bee‖ as a vehicle for ―the fame‖ emphasizes the contrast between
9

sweetness and bitterness, beauty and danger, attraction and risk. Whatever it is, it is not
ordinary part of the way we conceptualize our experience – a so-called ―one-shot
metaphor‖ (Lakoff & Turner, 1989: 91) employed exclusively by the author, impossible to
be copied by others. Most importantly, this kind of novel metaphor creates freedom for
readers to interpret the metaphorical images in whatever dimensions they recognize, which
make reading literature enjoyable.
To conclude, metaphorical expressions found in literature is considered ―more
creative, novel, original, striking, rich, interesting, complex, difficult, and interpretable‖
(Semino & Steen, 2008: 233) than conventional metaphors, which are found outside the
literary world and typically in real life language. It is therefore very inspiring to have an
insight into the use of metaphors in literature no matter what genre it is.

1.3 American short stories of the 20
th
century
The 20
th
century witnesses a great transformation of American literature in general and
short stories in particular due to enormous social reform and international conflict. This
century bears a load of wars for racist, religious, politic and economic reasons, is the cradle
for industrial revolutions, the development of science and technology and world economy,
and cherishes a great number of human achievements in all areas. This has led to
significant alterations to American lifestyle and thoughts, and short fiction is not an
exception. Short stories have daunted the American literature of the 20
th
century with its
amazing growth and incredible popularity, hundreds of outstanding authors, thousands of
books, magazines, newspapers publishing short stories.
Following the features of American literature of the 20
th
century, short fiction belongs
to one of these major stages as follows, even though the division is not completely distinct,
and in fact there are variations in categorizing these stages.
 1900-1910 Naturalistic Period
 1910-1945 Period of Modernism
 1945-1963 Postwar Period
 1963-1980 "Confessional" Period
 1980-2000 Period of Postmodernism
(From
10

The division of 20

th
century American short stories into different stages demonstrates
the development of thematic contents and artistic styles, which have a profound impact on
the language usage in this narrative form. Social and cultural conditions had led to
differences in the viewpoints, artistic trends and language styles of American writers. For
example, the Naturalists like Stephen Crane, Jack London, Theodore Dreiser, and
Sherwood Anderson tended to view people as hapless victims of immutable natural laws,
whereas the World War I destroyed the illusion that acting virtuously brought about good,
resulting in writers of "The Lost Generation" like Hemingway and Fitzgerald. The postwar
period flourished with respected practitioners like Flannery O’Connor, Katherine Anne
Porter, Eudora Welty, John Cheever, and Raymond Carver, and was marked by a feeling of
uneasiness and disturbance, a self-conscious sense of position in the world, and therefore
became the base for short stories focusing on the search for truth and skepticism. The
Confessional period and the period of Postmodernism seek the instability and ambiguity of
human experience with a deeper focus on personal pain of Confessional writers like
Flannery O’Connor, Joyce Carol Oates, and Raymond Carver.
According to James Nagel in ―A companion to the American short story‖, the 20
th

century is a period of innovation and continuity, ―filled with impressive artistry, social
conflict, and enormous potential for sustained innovation‖ (2010: 223). Whichever stages
they are in, and however different their philosophies are, the characteristics of American
culture are still thrown into sharp relief in the short stories of the 20
th
century.
1.4 Vietnamese short stories of the 20
th
century
The development of Vietnamese short stories of the 20
th

century follows the general
varied but complicated development of Vietnamese literature of the whole century. It falls
into three main stages, the categorization of which is based on the most remarkable
milestones in the history: from the early century to the August 1945 Revolution, from the
August 1945 Revolution to 1975, and from 1975 to the end of the century. Being created in
the struggle for national construction and defense, Vietnamese short stories of this century
are not out of the influence of the social circumstances.
In the first stage short stories are marked with two periods: the first 30 years of the
century filled with ideological stories, and more flagrantly, the fiction of 1930-1945 period
with dominated by three literary movements: romanticism, realism and revolutionism with
11

the contribution of a great number of authors such as Nam Cao, Nguyễn Công Hoan,
Thạch Lam, Kim Lân, Học Phi, Hồ Dzếnh, Bùi Hiển, etc. Their creations in this period are
deeply humane, artistic and reflective and many of them have become masterpieces of
Vietnamese literature.
Ideology, patriotism and socialism are noticeable features of the 1945-1975 stage. The
literature of this stage is revolutionary with deep humanism and many achievements in the
development of genre and style. Short fiction particularly focuses on the wars of resistance
against the French colony (1946-1954) and the US Army (1965-1975), and the
construction of Socialism in the North of Vietnam (1955-1964). Most stories depict the
ordinary but somehow heroic people before the fate of their nation (―Mùa lạc‖ by Nguyễn
Khải, ―Thư nhà‖ by Hồ Phương, ―Quán rượu người câm‖ by Nguyễn Quang Sáng, ―Rừng
xà nu‖ by Nguyễn Trung Thành and so forth); or the arousal of the public in light of the
holy revolution and Vietnamese Communist Party (―Đôi mắt‖ by Nam Cao, ―Vợ nhặt‖ by
Kim Lân, etc.)
After the reunion of the North and the South in 1975, Vietnam stepped into the process
of reconstructing the whole country with the unforgettable social reform started in 1986.
Short stories of this stage, especially from 1980s to the end of the century, saw abundant
changes in both artistry and content. They put a heavy emphasis on the description of daily

life with ordinary people, the difficulties in life, their calculation and scrambling for money
and fame, the corruption of the society and also their hopes and dreams of a better life. The
personalities and inner thoughts of the characters are described in detail with ample
imagery language. Some of the representative short stories writers of this stage are Nguyễn
Minh Châu, Lê Minh Khuê, Nguyễn Quang Thiều, Võ Thị Hảo, Nguyễn Quang Thiệp, Y
Ban and many other famous writers.
In conclusion, the understanding of social contexts and historical conditions of
Vietnam and America in the 20
th
century brings us an in-depth look into the language
styles and artistic tropes used in short stories, among which are metaphors.
12

Chapter 2: Water and fire as metaphors in American and Vietnamese short stories of
the 20
th
century
2.1 The popularity of water and fire as metaphors
The mechanical study of 60 American and Vietnamese short stories into the length of
each story, the number of water and fire metaphors to figure out the average ratio of these
metaphors per one story shows that water and fire are popular as literary tropes in both
literatures.
The density of water and fire metaphors in American short stories is high. Among 30
stories investigated, 293 examples of metaphors are found with 177 water metaphors and
116 fire metaphors, accounting for 60.41% and 39.59% respectively. The length of each
story ranges from approximately 2,000 words to over 13,000 words, with an average of
7,000 words each. On average a story of approximately 7,000 words contains about 10
water and fire metaphors. There are particularly some short stories extraordinarily densely-
covered with water and fire metaphors such as A death in the desert (Willa Cather, 1903)
with 27 metaphors, Bernice bobs her hair (Scott Fitzgerald, 1922) with 18 metaphors, The

lame shall enter first (Flannery O’Connor, 1965) with 25 metaphors or Soon (Pam Durban,
1997) with 21 metaphors. In short water and fire are seen with high frequency in American
short stories.
Regarding Vietnamese short fiction, the proportion of metaphors of water and fire is
similarly large. There are 266 examples in 30 stories with the average length of
approximately 5,000 words. It works out as 9 metaphors in each story, though some stories
have strangely high density of water and fire metaphors such as Nắng mới (Bùi Hiển,
1939), Hai dòng sữa (Nguyên Hồng, 1943), or Mùa lạc (Nguyễn Khải, 1960), etc. Fire
metaphors account for only 36.47% while 169 examples of water metaphors are discovered
(63.53%). Similar to American short stories, the number of water metaphors is much
greater than the number of fire metaphors, and both appear frequently throughout the
studied stories.
The above figures are significant in pinpointing the popularity of water and fire
metaphors in both American and Vietnamese literatures. The frequency of appearance of
these metaphors is very high, which inevitably proves that water and fire images are
commonly used as literary tropes in short fiction. Besides, that the examples of water
13

metaphors outnumber those of fire reveals a higher favor of water in creating metaphors
and its remarkable impact on people’s thoughts and actions.
The explanation for the popularity of these metaphors perhaps lies in the essential
roles of water and fire in human life. Mankind relies on water and fire to survive and
develop. Water is the most important factor that makes a planet habitable, and fire is the
root of civilization. Water is the necessary condition because it maintains the existence of
man and fire is the sufficient condition as it helps improve the quality of life. For this
reason, every activity and thought of people are closely linked to water and fire.
Though both are extremely vital to life, water is more deeply-attached to people and
their culture. Water is believed to be the source of life. Science has proved that life
originates from the sea and people had existed long before anthropogenic fire was created
and used to their advantage. The survival of human beings is decided by water as

biologically our bodies will be in desperate straights without water for just one day though
we can go wihout food for weeks or even months. Moreover, three-fourths of the area of
the earth surface is covered in water, which means most of our living activities involve
water. Water has thus become part of cultures around the world. Famous ancient cultures
were established by the basins of big rivers such as Egyptian civilization with the Nile,
Mesopotamia (Greek word for ―between the rivers) with the Tigris-Euphrates river system,
Indian culture with the Indus, Chinese culture with the Yellow River (Huang He), etc.
Water is also an indispensible part in the beliefs of many religions all over the world with
two main ―symbolic qualities – rebirth and purification‖ (www.abc.net.au/water/stories).
According to Tran Ngoc Them (www.anviettoancau.net) water is a typical natural
phenomenon while culture is a typical social phenomenon. Thus, water and culture are
strongly interlinked. This relationship explains why water metaphors have a higher
frequency than fire metaphors in both American and Vietnamese short stories.
In conclusion, water and fire have a great influence on the way language is used with a
range of colloquialisms and metaphorical expressions. The study into 60 short stories of
American and Vietnamese literatures displays a very high density of water and fire
metaphors, which can serve as an undeniable evidence for the domination of these two
natural and cultural concepts in people’s perception of the natural and social phenomenons.
However popular they are, fire metaphors are not preferred as much as water in literature
as water is conspicuously more attached to life than fire in any culture. Frequently utilized
14

as literary tropes, these metaphors convey messages of the writers to the readers in an
astounding manner.
2.2 The formation of metaphors of water and fire
Conceptual metaphors of water and fire in literature are created in two key ways. First,
short stories writers employ different lexical items related to water and fire to construct
various expressions that carry deep meanings they want to deliver. They can also be
created with different parts of speech like nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Each part
of speech affects greatly the way writers embed messages and how readers process them.

The formation of water and fire metaphors is clearly illustrated in 60 short stories with a
large number of linguistic expressions and grammatical devices.
2.2.1 Lexical items
Lexical items play a significant role in forming the metaphors of water and fire. These
metaphors are not only expressed with the words ―water‖ and ―fire‖, but refered to via all
the lexis directly or indirectly associated with these two elements. Water is directly
mentioned through the forms it takes and its activities, indirectly with words and phrases
specifying the actions performed with water, the properties of water and its consequences.
As regards fire, it appears directly with the images of fire and its activities, and is indirectly
mentioned with the images of light and heat, the properties of fire, and its consequences.
The numbers of lexical items in English and in Vietnamese differ, but they all fall into the
above categories and help build conceptual metaphors such as ANGER IS FIRE, LOVE IS
FIRE, HAPPINESS IS WATER, etc. which are already imprinted in people’s minds.
As an illustration for the use of lexical items to create water and fire metaphors
effectively, table 1 and 2 have been built, presenting common words and phrases related to
water and fire in English and Vietnamese. Each category is divided in two parts: English
(E) and Vietnamese (V) with equivalent items in both languages, although a few of them
do not have counterparts. The division of water-related lexis is quite similar to that of fire
with the categories of form, activity, property and consequence. The only discrepancy is
due to the fact that fire generates heat and light, so heat and light take a separate place in
the table. About water, people can do many things with it; as a result, it is necessary to
include another column to cover some verbs signifying actions performed with water. Due
to the limited space, parts of these two tables are presented here; the whole table 1 and 2
can be seen at Appendix A and B respectively.
15

Directly
Indirectly
Form
Activity

Action performed with
water
Property
Consequence
E
V
E
V
E
V
E
V
E
V
wave
làn sóng, sóng
sóng ngầm
pour
đổ về, đổ ra

drink
uống
cool
nguội
sink
chìm nghỉm, đắm,
chìm, chìm đắm
shower
trận mưa
flow

overflow
chảy, ùa, ùa chảy
trôi chảy, tràn, tràn
ngập, trào, trào dậy
pour
dội, trút
cold
lạnh
lạnh nhạt
flooded
lênh láng, chan hoà
chứa chan
Table 1: Water-related lexical items
Directly
Indirectly
Form of fire
Activity of fire
Light and Heat
Property
Consequence
E
V
E
V
E
V
E
V
E
V

fire
lửa, đám lửa
(máu) lửa
khói lửa
cục lửa
burn
đốt cháy
đốt, cháy
glitter/
glow
sáng ngời
sáng, sáng lên,
ngời ngời
hot
nổi nóng, nóng (ruột, lòng)
bừng bừng, nóng bừng
nôn nóng, nóng hổi
nóng cháy, nóng bỏng
burnt (out)
khô cháy
flame
ngọn lửa
flare
loé
gleam
le lói
warm
warmth
hơi ấm
ấm áp, ấm cúng

đầm ấm
consumed
thiêu đốt
spark
tia lửa, tia sáng
consume
thiêu đốt, đốt
sparkle
lấp lánh
burning
bùng bùng
ngùn ngụt

chết cháy
Table 2: Fire-related lexical items
16

To begin the analysis of lexical items, it is noticeable that the metaphors of water are
manifested with different forms and activities. Water can take a variety of forms such as
sea, stream, reservoir, pool, river, wave, tide, shower, current, torrent, rain, ice, tear, etc.
Its activities are even more various: pouring, flowing, overflowing, flooding, spilling,
streaming, rushing, drifting, showering, sprinkling, welling, rising, churning, dribbling,
percolating, soaking, or saturating, etc. Vietnamese writers likewise make use of all the
forms and activities of water such as sông, suối, biển, sóng, mưa, ao, luồng, dòng, giọt, lũ,
nguồn, chảy, trôi dạt, tràn ngập, dâng trào, đổ về, xoáy, etc. to create various metaphorical
expressions. Clearly all these words and phrases, straightly connected with water,
contribute to the vivid emergence of water in literature.
A striking illustration for this is LIGHT-IS-WATER metaphor with many ways to
compare light with water. The feature shared by both light and water is that they are
lissome, spreadable and able to move and twist naturally, i.e. the comparison is based on

the similarity in both forms and sensations. The following examples taken randomly from
different American short stories help us realize how this conceptual metaphor is mapped
through the means of lexical items.
 “… and Rainsford stood blinking in the river of glaring gold light that poured out.” (The
most dangerous game, Richard Connell)
 “… and flashed with drops of light on their new varnished leaves.” (The peach stone, Paul
Horgan)
 “The green waves of white light are thrown upon our eyes.” (The shadow and the flash, Jack
London)
 “… and turned my face up in the light that streamed out through the shutters …” (A death in
the desert, Willa Cather)
 “For some time he lay without movement, the genial sunshine pouring upon him and
saturating his miserable body with its warmth.” (Love of life, Jack London)
These examples obviously show that the concept of light is expressed through words and
phrases directly related to water. A river is a thing formed by water; a drop and a wave are
forms of water; streaming, pouring and saturating are activities of water. They leave a
deep impression in readers’ minds about the softness in the movement of light. These items
can aslo be found in Vietnamese stories. Bùi Hiển (Nắng mới, 1939) fascinatingly
describes sunlight by various forms and activities of water such as ―một giọt nắng hoe hoe
17

vàng‖ (a blonde drop of light), ―ánh sáng ùa tràn vào thành luồng lớn khiến chàng ngợp
trong sóng vàng chói lọi‖ (light is rushing in a large stream, flooding him with brightly
golden waves) or “… ánh vàng dâng tràn, chảy rời rợi trên ngón tay‖ (the golden light is
overflowing on the fingers). By means of such words and phrases as ―wave‖, ―stream‖,
―drop‖, ―river‖, ―sea‖, ―flood‖, ―flow‖, ―overflow‖, the tenor of light is conveyed through
the vehicle of water directly.
Nonetheless, it is not necessary to relate the target domain straightly to water: there are
indirect expressions describing the actions performed with water, its properties and its
consequences. Many actions remind people of water like watering, swimming, sinking,

washing, bathing, drinking, etc. Things also need water to float or buoy up. Water evokes
the feeling of pleasure because it is cool. When water takes the form of ice, it is freezing.
Water also leaves disastrous consequences: it causes flood, makes people drown, or wash
over things. Short stories writers take advantage of indirect lexis to compare things
implicitly with water. For example, anger and water are interlinked in that both can lower
the temperature. If in English someone is ―frozen with frustrated rage.” (Everything that
rises must converge, F. O’Connor), then in Vietnamese, anger is shown on a cold face as in
the phrase ―nét mặt lạnh lùng, băng giá của cô ấy‖ (Có một thời yêu, Vũ Thị Thu Hồng).
Also, Vietnamese people conceive anger as some liquid that you can pour as in “… chẳng
nói chẳng rằng lão trút cơn giận …‖ (Chiếc thuyền ngoài xa, Nguyễn Minh Châu). It
sounds strange but not unreasonable to consider ―coldness‖ as a metaphor of water. The
basis of this direct metaphor is the transference of sensation. People normally feel cold
when they are in water; this feeling is transferred to the state of being angry. Therefore
they express their anger through a ―frozen face‖ or an ―icy voice‖. It can be concluded that
the indirect lexical items connected with water impressively diversify metaphorical
expressions without the presence of water itself.
Similarly, fire metaphors are formed either with direct lexical items indicating fire and
its activities or with indirect vocabulary denoting heat and light. The image of fire is
expressed with ―fire”, ―flame” or ―spark” with Vietnamese corresponding words or
phrases like lửa, đám lửa, cục lửa, ngọn lửa, tia lửa. Normally fire can burn, consume,
warm, kindle, flicker, flare and die out. Equivalently the activities of fire are described
with thiêu đốt, sưởi ấm, nhen nhóm, le lói, bùng bùng, or tàn lụi in Vietnamese. Apart
from that, fire is often associated with heat and light, two things generated by fire. Then
18

heat and light are elaborated with a wide repertoire of words and phrases such as glow,
gleam, glint, glitter, sparkle, radiate or emanate. Fire is also depicted via its properties and
consequences. Fire is always in connection with high temperature at different levels like
warm, heated, hot, boiling, burning, and with a ruinous result when something is burnt
(out). Even though the quantity of items related to fire (25 words in English and a

relatively equal number in Vietnamese) is not as large as the quantity of water-related lexis
(64 words in English and a relatively equal number in Vietnamese), their diversity and
descriptive capability are not less notable.
Some expressions of ANGER-IS-FIRE conceptual metaphor below can illustrate the
direct and indirect words and phrases related to fire in both English and Vietnamese:
English
Vietnamese
―But they are men,‖ said Rainsford hotly. (The
most dangerous game, Richard Connell)
… mà lại hay nổi nóng. (Rừng xà nu, Nguyễn
Trung Thành)
―She was heading toward a boil.‖ (Cathedral,
Raymond Carver)
―Thị thấy lòng sôi lên sùng sục.‖ (Giăng sáng,
Nam Cao)
―Yuh ain never heped yo own sef since yuh
been born,‖ she flared. (Bright and Morning
Star, Richard Wright)
Tâm trí Huyên cứ ngùn ngụt. (Hai dòng sữa,
Nguyên Hồng)
―There was a deep burning inside her, an anger
that made her feel larger than herself …‖ (A
good, small thing, Raymond Carver)
Một ngọn lửa bỏng rát táp vào mặt ông Lư.
(Mùa hoa cải bên sông, Nguyễn Quang Thiều)
From the above sentences, it is not difficult to realize that different fire-related items are
put into service to relay the only concept of anger, from the activity of burning (burning,
flared) to the consequence of heat (boil, hotly). They also reveal the degree of anger, from
the mildest to the most serious, through the level of heat: hot, boil, flare, burn. Though
fire-related lexical items found in American and Vietnamese stories are not of the same

parts of speech, they can illustrate one point: fire metaphors are created via images,
activities, properties and consequences of fire.
As shown above, one similarity between American and Vietnamese language is that
there is a wide variety of lexical items, either direct or indirect for the writers to create the
metaphors in their own fashion. Obviously it is not necessary to mention water and fire,
then there are water and fire metaphors. Water and fire are just concepts, which can be
19

expressed directly or indirectly with a large range of words and phrases indicating their
forms, activities, properties and consequences. They not only result in the diversity but also
enhance the beauty of language, helping readers unforgettably enjoy literary works, no
matther what language they are in.
On the other hand, table 1 and 2 also present the difference betweet the two languages:
Vietnamese language has a larger repertoire of descriptive vocabulary. For example in
order to describe the activity of ―flowing‖, ―overflowing‖ or ―flooding‖ there are plenty of
words in Vietnamese such as ―ùa‖, ―ùa tràn‖, ―tràn‖, ―ngập tràn‖, ―tràn ngập‖, ―ngập‖,
―đổ tràn‖, ―gội tràn trề‖, ―trào‖, ―chảy cuồn cuộn‖ etc. Through these words, the activities
of water are animated with different levels of strength that cannot be expressed with such
mere words as ―flood‖, ―flow‖ or ―overflow‖. Another example is the word ―sink‖ and its
counterparts in Vietnamese. Common Vietnamese words to express the action of ―sinking‖
is ―đắm‖, ―chìm”, ―chìm đắm‖, ―chìm nghỉm‖, ―chết chìm‖. Also, Vietnamese adjectives
describing heat and burning are not less various: ―bừng bừng‖, ―nóng cháy‖, ―nóng bỏng‖,
―nóng hổi‖, ―nóng bừng‖, ―nôn nóng‖, ―bùng bùng‖, ―ngùn ngụt‖, ―ngốt ngát‖, etc. are
some of the expressions with the same denotation but varied connotations.
As regards the variety in descriptive vocabulary of Vietnamese, let us examine some
characteristics of Vietnamese as a monosyllabic type of language. The smallest unit to
construct a word in Vietnamese is a morphemesyllable – a syllable coincides with a
morpheme (www.ngonngu.net). Vietnamese language is non-inflected, so the boundary
between syllables, morphemes and words is not sufficiently clear. Hence the ability to
construct words is much greater than English, which is called Agglutinated language

(Rudra, www.hubpages.com). Understandably the stem ―nóng‖ can be combined with
other morphemesyllables to create new words with different connotations like ―nóng nực‖,
―nóng bức‖, ―nóng hổi‖, ―nóng bỏng‖, ―nóng bừng‖, etc. In addition, Vietnamese language
has reduplicative words – one of the most effective stylistic devices in Vietnamese, which
adds a valuable supplement to the treausure of Vietnamese rhetoric vocabulary. For that
reason such words as lênh láng, ngập ngụa, bùng bùng, ngùn ngụt, ngốt ngát, and so on are
challenging for those who want to find equivalents or to express them somehow in English.
Evidently Vietnamese language has a richer source of descriptive lexical items connected
with water and fire than English.
20

To summarize the whole part, water and fire metaphors are created with various words
and phrases denoting the images, activities, properties and consequences of water and fire,
which is the most noteworthy similarity between American and Vietnamese literatures
Directly or indirectly, these lexical items in both languages remind the readers of these two
elements with a variety of forms and strengths. Besides, Vietnamese metaphors are better
known for their descriptive power although the number of lexis associated with water and
fire in English is not small. With lexical items as a constructing device, metaphorical
expressions in American and Vietnamese short stories vary dramatically.
2.2.2 Parts of speech
According to Galperin (1981: 143) the degree of identification of objects or
phenomena in a metaphor varies in response to the part of speech in which it is embodied,
so there must be an investigation into how metaphors of water and fire are created with
different parts of speech. The parts of speech of English metaphors fall into the open class
with nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. However, at word level the concept of adverb in
Vietnamese (phó từ) does not belong to the notional word class (thực từ) but is a
subdivision of adjunct, which cannot function as a semantic centre. As a result, metaphors
of water and fire in Vietnamese are only grouped into nouns, verbs and adjectives - three
main parts of speech of the first category according to the classification of Nguyễn Hồng
Cổn (Language Journal, Issue 02/2003). The use of parts of speech in constructing

metaphors is significant thanks to their stylistic potentials.
To begin, the following charts display the percentage of different parts of speech of
water and fire metaphors in American and Vietnamese short stories.

Chart 1: Parts of speech of water and fire metaphors in American short stories
21


Chart 2: Parts of speech of water and fire metaphors in Vietnamese short stories
In American short stories, apparently verb and noun metaphors are dominating while
adjectives and adverbs account for a very restricted proportion. As regards water
metaphors, more than half of them are verbs with 51.41%, leaving the rest for other parts
of speech. This trend does not work in the case of fire metaphors. The creation of fire
metaphors appreciates the high frequency of nouns and verbs relatively equally with
37.07% and 34.48% respectively. Adverbs are used least frequently, less than 5%.
Unlike metaphors in American stories, the patterns of parts of speech of Vietnamese
water and fire metaphors differ notably. Water metaphors are dominated by verbs
(47.93%) but fire metaphors are conquered by adjectives (44.33%). Noun and adjective
water metaphors share quite equal percentage of about 25%. Besides, verbs associated with
fire also account for a fairly big part with 36.08% despite the dominance of adjectives.
Briefly verbs and adjectives occupy a key role in the creation of water and fire metaphors
in Vietnamese.
On the other hand, the number of examples discovered in 60 stories is presented in the
table as follows, which can serve as a basis to decipher the trend of creating water and fire
metaphors as a whole via parts of speech in both languages.

Noun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb

Total
water and fire metaphors in Vietnamese stories
64
116
86
0
266
water and fire metaphors in American stories
100
131
51
11
293
The total numbers of metaphorical expressions in Vietnamese and English are quite
the same (266 compared to 293), so it is not subjective to sketch the trend as in this chart:
22


Chart 3: The trend in using parts of speech to create water and fire metaphors
The chart evidently shows that verb metaphors are of the highest frequency and adverbs
rank last in both languages. On the contrary, there is a slight difference between the use of
nouns and adjectives. In American stories nouns are preferred while Vietnamese writers
are in more favor of adjectives, with 34.13% and 32.33% respectively. Most prominently,
verb is the most popular device to create metaphors of water and fire in American and
Vietnamese short stories.
The fact that verbs account for the largest proportion proves the strength and influence
of water and fire in symbolism. Stylistically ―verbal style abounds in verbs and is very
dynamic‖ (Missikova, 2003: 59). Verbs, with their dynamic property, describe processes
and activities of water and fire, leaving an impression of their constructive and destructive
power. Thanks to this, the images of water and fire are vigorously portrayed with a variety

of metaphorical expressions.
Apart from that, the level of objectivity and subjectivity are also embedded in the use
of nouns and adjectives. After verbs, noun metaphors appear quite frequently in American
stories while adjectives are relatively dense in Vietnamese ones. The use of nouns often
provides static and objective descriptions, so readers have more freedom in processing the
message when reading American stories. Conversely Vietnamese writers are more
imposing when enclosing their attitudes and beliefs in what they want to communicate to
the readers. The reason is that adjectives belong to the qualifying lexis (Missikova, 2003:
59), so they stylistically make the descriptions more subjective. For example Connell
writes ―… blinking in a river of glaring gold light that poured out‖ (The most dangerous
23

game, 1924). The noun ―river‖ just evokes the great amount of light but not how the writer
feels about it. Instead of using a noun, Nguyên Hồng makes use of a descritive adjective to
paint the sunlight and wind in ―Nắng và gió toả ra lênh láng‖ (Mợ Du, 1943). ―Lênh láng‖
(being spilt all over) not only denotes the great amount but also conveys the feeling of the
author. It has a negative connotation that light and wind are too much and unfavorable. The
objectivity of American writers is also shown in the relatively more limited use of adverbs,
which, similar to adjectives, have a qualifying function.
In conclusion, each part of speech has its own significance in creating water and fire
metaphors. Both American and Vietnamese short stories leave largest room for verbs to
perform their dynamic effects in depicting the strength and influence of water and fire.
However, American writers appear to be more objective than Vietnamese ones in the
descriptions of scenes and people, which is demonstrated through their preference of noun
metaphors and less favour of adjectives and adverbs. In contrast, adjectives help
Vietnamese writers impose their viewpoints in their own works through water and fire
metaphors.
2.3 The functions of metaphors of water and fire
The examples of metaphors taken from 60 short stories disclose their two main
functions: describing strong emotions and creating imagery based on the affinity between

water and fire and the target domains, as well as the identification of the target domains via
water and fire. They are proved to excite readers’ imagination, making abstract concepts
more concrete and livelier in their minds. Not only do they aim at finding the resemblance
between objects but they also seek the identification of them. The tenors, vehicles and
dimensions of these metaphors are displayed in detail in Appendix C. With the
characteristics of novelty, they appeal to the readers of all time, and prove the artistic
feature of using and enjoying language.
2.3.1 The description of strong emotions
Emotions symbolized with water and fire in both American and Vietnamese short
stories are all strong, including love, hope, happiness, faith, pride, triumpth, desire,
unhappiness, indifference, anger, fear, hatred, embarrassment, passion, shame, and pain. It
is noticeable that whenever the feelings are pushed to an unbearable level, or play a very
important role in developing the events, water and fire metaphors emerge with varied