life and death metaphors in some short stories by jack london from cognitive perspective = ẩn dụ về sống và chết trong một số truyện ngắn của jack london dưới góc nhìn tri nhận

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE-STUDIES


HONG DIU THU


LIFE AND DEATH METAPHORS IN SOME SHORT
STORIES BY JACK LONDON FROM COGNITIVE
PERSPECTIVE

ẨN DỤ VỀ SỐNG VÀ CHẾT TRONG MỘT SỐ TRUYỆN
NGẮN CỦA JACK LONDON DƯỚI GÓC NHÌN TRI NHẬN

M.A Minor Programme Thesis
Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60.22.15



HA NOI - 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE-STUDIES


HONG DIU THU

LIFE AND DEATH METAPHORS IN SOME SHORT
STORIES BY JACK LONDON FROM COGNITIVE
PERSPECTIVE

ẨN DỤ VỀ SỐNG VÀ CHẾT TRONG MỘT SỐ TRUYỆN
NGẮN CỦA JACK LONDON DƯỚI GÓC NHÌN TRI NHẬN

M.A Minor Programme Thesis
Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60.22.15
Supervisor: Associate Professor Vo
̃
Đa
̣
i Quang, Ph.D.



HA NOI - 2012
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration……………………………………………………………………… i
Acknowledgement. ii
Astract ………………………………………………………………………….…iii
Table of contents………………………………………………………………… iv
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Rationale of the study 1
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study 2
1.2.1. Aims of the study 2

1.2.2. Objectives of the study 2
1.3. Significance of the study 3
1.4. Scope of the study 3
1.5. Structure of the study 3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5
2.1 Overview of different theories on metaphor 5
2.2. Conceptual metaphor 6
2.2.1. What is meant by “conceptual metaphor”? 6
2.2.2. How metaphor structures our thoughts 6
2.2.3. Mapping as a major function of metaphors 7
2.3. Highlighting and Hiding 8
2.4. Coherence and Consistence 8
2.5. Previous studies related to the theme of this thesis 9
2.6. Summary 11
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 12
3.1. Principles governing the research 12
3.1.1. Principles governing the research type 12
3.1.2. Principles for the formulation of research questions 13
3.2. Methods employed for the research 14
3.2.1. Data collections instruments 15
3.2.2. Data analysis techniques 15
3.2.3. Data analysis procedure 16
v

3.3. Summary 16
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 17
4.1. Life Metaphors 17
4.1.1. Life is a journey 17
4.1.2. Life is a fighting/ Life is a battle 20
4.1.3. Life is fire/ heat/ warmth 24

4.1.4. Life is light 27
4.2. Death metaphors 27
4.2.1. Death is the end of a journey 27
4.2.2. Death is cold 29
4.2.3. Death is night/ Death is darkness 31
4.2.4. Death is rest/ Death is sleep 32
4.3. Coherence and consistence of Life and Death metaphors 34
4.3.1. Coherence of Life and Death metaphors 34
4.3.2 Consistence of Life and Death metaphors 35
4.4. Summary 36
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 38
5.1. CONCLUDING REMARKS 38
5.1.1. Concluding remarks on objective 1 – The common type of metaphor for
Life and Death image in Jack London’s short stories. 38
5.1.2. Concluding remarks on objective 2 – The markers of coherence and
consistence between the Life and Death metaphors 38
5.1.3. Concluding remarks on objective 3 - The possible implications for
English language teaching and learning 39
5.2. LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 41
5.2.1. Limitations of the study 41
5.2.2. Suggestion for further research 41
REFERENCES 44
APPENDICES I
1

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 . Rationale of the study
Nowadays people have witnessed a great proliferation of works in cognitive
grammar, most of which are related to the field of metaphor. According to Lakoff &

Johnson (1980), there is a set of metaphorical concepts with which we
conceptualize the world, or better, our worldviews. Following this, metaphor is
rather a matter of daily life experience, or a matter ―of thought and reason‖ (Lakoff,
1993: 208) than merely a matter of language.
Lakoff & Johnson (1980: 6) claim that part of ―the human conceptual system is
metaphorically structured and defined.‖ This means that we tend to conceptualize
metaphorically certain aspects of life in a systematic way. These authors offer a
wide range of metaphors that cover basic aspects of life by structuring
metaphorically one concept in terms of another.
Apparently, the high frequency of metaphor in general and conceptual metaphor in
literature is one of the interesting fields for linguistics because it has an undeniable
influence on the poetic character of a literary works. Moreover, literature seems to
be the superior choice to consider the product of imagination which reflects the real
life. Because of the woven of imagination and real life, the language used on
literature is not only imaginative but also realistic, which allows people to examine
metaphors in both ―ordinary and extraordinary‖ perspectives.
There are a number of researchers and linguists take metaphors in literature as
favorite topic for their studying. As Semino & Steen, (2008: 233) metaphors in
literature is considered ―more create, novel, original, striking, rich, interesting,
complex, difficult, and interpretable‖ than conventional metaphor. Among various
metaphor concepts, Life and Death metaphors have been taken into consideration
by many linguistics. But it seems that the Life and Death metaphors are often
2

investigated separately. For that reason, the present paper would like to take
investigation in both metaphor concepts for the image of Life and Death.
Jack London, whose fiction clearly indicates the ways in which both his personal
experiences and his reading shaped his outlook, always showed the theme of man's
attempts to survive the forces of nature, the threat of savages, and the competition
with other fortune seekers. In Jack London‘s short stories, the battle between Life

and Death is presented clearly and interestingly, without the existence of the other.
For that reason, the present paper would like to investigate the metaphor concept of
Life and Death in some short stories by Jack London from the cognitive
perspective.
1.2. Aims and objectives of the study
1.2.1. Aims of the study
This paper is to find out the mapping of conceptual metaphors for Life and Death in
some short stories by Jack London. It is expected that with the finding established,
an overview of LIFE and DEATH metaphors in the obtained literature will be
brought about. Also, implications for language teaching and learning are offered.
1.2.2. Objectives of the study
The objectives of the study can be elaborated into the following research questions.
- What are the common types of metaphors for the Life and Death image in Jack
London‘s short stories seen from the cognitive perspective?
- What are the markers of coherence and consistence of Life and Death metaphors
based on the framework advocated by Lakoff & Johnson?
- What are the possible implications for language teaching and learning?



3

1.3. Significance of the study
Metaphor is one of the most basic phenomena in human language. This kind of
study has significance not only for investigation into language in use, but also for
the research of human mind. Besides theoretical significance, this study also sheds
light on second language teaching and learning. This thesis aims to analyze
metaphorical sayings of Life and Death from the cognitive perspective, i.e. to view
the sayings of Life and Death from the perspective of the Conceptual Metaphor
Theory. Both theoretical analysis and empirical study are conducted on the topic.

1.4. Scope of the study
The present study takes its basic theoretical background from the work of Lakoff &
Johnson (1980), Lakoff & Turner (1989), and Lakoff (2006), where metaphorical
expression is conceived as the surface realization of cross-domain mapping in the
128 conceptual systems.
Due to the limited time, space and the author‘s ability, the present paper just
investigates the conceptual metaphors for Life and Death expressed in some famous
works by Jack London in the light of theory raised by G. Lakoff & M. Johnson.
1.5. Structure of the study
The study consists of five chapters.
Chapter 1, Introduction, is spared for the presentation of the rationale, aims,
significance, scope, and the structure of the study.
Chapter 2, Literature review, provides the necessary information about the
theoretical background related to metaphor based on Lakoff & Johnson‘s
perspective.
Chapter 3, Methodology, provides information about the principles that govern the
research and the methods to be employed.
4

Chapter 4, Findings and Discussion, presents the findings obtained and sound
discussions on those findings.
Chapter 5, Conclusion, provides a recapitulation of the main issues and problems
presented in the study. The main content in this chapter is the specific conclusions
on each of the research question. Also, implications for teaching and suggestion for
further research have been supplied. This subsection brings about the practical value
to the thesis from which readers can, to different degrees, benefit.
5

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Overview of different theories on metaphor
Put very generally, there are two main approaches in the study of metaphor: firstly,
the traditional approach, which encompasses many different theories but shares
some fundamental presumptions, secondly, the cognitive approach, which, despite
being very recent, has become the most influential theory of metaphor (Richardt,
2005 p. 19).
Traditionally, According to website
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it
is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object.
Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of
speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance
including allegory, hyperbole, and simile.
From cognitive point of view, as stated by Lakoff and Johnson, our ordinary
conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally
metaphorical in nature. Without knowing it, we use metaphors on a daily basis in
our language, thought and in the way we experience things because our conceptual
system is largely metaphorical. This means that metaphor consists of conceptual
metaphors, which is cognitive in nature, and various linguistic expressions of these
conceptual metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson 2003: 50).
Lakoff and Johnson explore our conceptual system by looking at language. They
argue that as communication is based on the same conceptual system that we use in
thinking and acting, language is an important source of evidence for what that
system is like. They use ARGUMENT IS WAR as an example. There are
manifestations of this metaphorical concept in everyday language: ―Your claims are
6

indefensible,‖ ―I demolished his argument,‖ ―I‘ve never won an argument with him‖
and ―If you use that strategy, he‘ll wipe you out.‖
ARGUMENT IS WAR is not just a way of talking about argument. Many of our
actions during an argument are actually structured by the concept of war. It is a

metaphor ―that we live by in this culture; it structures the actions we perform in
arguing‖.
2.2. Conceptual metaphor
2.2.1. What is meant by “conceptual metaphor”?
The word ―metaphor‖ means to ―carry over‖ or to ―transfer‖. For Lakoff & Johnson
(1980: 5), metaphor is used for us to realize ―one kind of thing in terms of another‖.
A metaphorical expression can be just one word, or it can be a phrase or a sentence.
It is even possible to regard an entire story as a metaphor for life or the world
(Goatly, 2011: 109). The following part will look into the structure and mechanics
of metaphor in order to arrive at a definition of metaphor that will be used in this
study.
2.2.2. How metaphor structures our thoughts
According to Lakoff and Johnson‘s theory, a conceptual metaphor is a concept
about the world. By adding the conceptual level to the linguistic level of metaphor,
the theory of conceptual metaphor expands the idea of metaphor. This means that
metaphor consists of conceptual metaphors, which is cognitive in nature, and
various linguistic expressions of these conceptual metaphors (Lakoff & Johnson,
2003: 50).
We can take TIME IS MONEY metaphor as a common example of how metaphor
is more than a matter of language, this metaphor enable us to use expressions such
as ―that flat tire cost me an hour‟ (Lakoff & Johnson, 2003: 8), TIME IS MONEY
metaphor also allows us to treat our time as something value that should not be
wasted or should at least be spent or even invested wisely.
7

It is the fact that metaphor not only rules the way we think of the world, but also
how we interact with it. An unconventional conceptual metaphor, on the other hand,
would require an unconventional linguistic expression, at least to a certain degree.
(Lakoff & Tunrner, 1989: 50)
2.2.3. Mapping as a major function of metaphors

There are two main parts of a conceptual metaphor namely source domain and
target domains. The mapping of a source domain onto the target domain is the way
metaphor transfers meaning from one area to another. In fact, metaphor is a relation
between conceptual domains, so that the way we talk about the source domain can
be used for the target domain thanks to the systematic correspondences between the
two. That it is systematic means that multiple aspects of the source domain –
appearances, functions, and relations – may be mapped onto the target domain.
A mapping is the systematic set of correspondences that exist between constituent
elements of the source and the target domain. Many elements of target concepts
come from source domains and are not preexisting. To know a conceptual metaphor
is to know the set of mappings that applies to a given source-target pairing (Wiki).
According to the invariance principle, held by Lakoff (as well as others), all of the
image-schematic structure of the source that is consistent with the target is mapped
onto the target (Kövecses, 2003: 84). Kövecses claims that mappings are based on
the ―main meaning focus‖ of a source domain, i.e. ―the central knowledge that
pertains to a particular entity or event within a speech community.‖ (Kövecses,
2003: 82).
According to Kövecses (2003: 311 - 312), the structure of a conceptual metaphor is
complex because the two domains of thought exist simultaneously; he also shows
ten interacting components that make up a conceptual metaphor known as
experiential basis, source domain, target domain, relationship between the source
and the target , metaphorical linguistic expressions, mappings, entailments, blends,
non-linguistic realization and cultural models.
8

2.3. Highlighting and Hiding
According to Lakoff & Johnson, Metaphorical structuring is always partial and
never total. It can never be full because of the two main reasons; firstly, the two
concepts would be exactly the same thing instead of one concept structuring
another. The part of the metaphorical concept which does not fit is left out because

it is not relevant. On the other hand, metaphorical structuring also keeps the focus
off certain aspects of a concept because these aspects do not fit in with that
metaphor. So part of a concept is highlighted, while other parts remain hidden.
Lakoff & Johnson use ARGUMENT IS WAR as an example. In this metaphorical
concept, we focus on the aspect of attack and defence in arguments. This aspect of
the metaphor, therefore, is highlighted. What is left out, however, is that you also
have a cooperative aspect to argument. Lakoff and Johnson write that the person
you are having an argument with could also be seen as someone who is ―giving you
his time, a valuable commodity, in an effort at mutual understanding‖. But the
cooperative aspect of argument is hidden because we use the metaphorical concept
ARGUMENT IS WAR. Metaphorical concepts thus always have a part which is
used and an unused part.
The metaphorical concept Lakoff and Johnson use to show how the used part and
the unused part work can also be seen in metaphor THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS.
The part of the metaphor which is being used can be found in expressions such as
―Is that the foundation of your theory‖ and ―The theory needs more support‖. On
the contrary, buildings have aspects beside the outer shell and construction. They
have doors, windows, a roof, rooms, hallways, etc. These aspects of buildings are
unused in our everyday language when using the metaphor.
2.4. Coherence and Consistence
Lakoff and Johnson mention that metaphorical concepts can be coherent or
consistent. Consistent metaphors ―form a single image,‖ while coherent metaphors
are ―subcategories of a major category and therefore share a major common
9

entailment‖. They do not form a single image but they ―fit together.‖ These authors
use two metaphors to clarify this idea.
The first example is TIME IS A MOVING OBJECT metaphor, this metaphor is
expressed in sentences such as ―Time flies‖, ―The time will come‖, and ―The time
for action has arrived‖

The second illustration is TIME IS STATIONARY AND WE MOVE THROUGH
IT metaphor with the manifestation in the sentences ―We‘re approaching the end of
the year‖, ―As we go through the years‖.
It can be noticed two metaphors above do not form one single image. In the first
case, we stand still and time moves. In the second case, we move while time stands
still. But, as Lakoff and Johnson describe it, the two metaphorical concepts do share
one ―major common entailment.‖ From our point of view, time goes past us, from
front to back. Because of this shared entailment, the two concepts fit together and,
therefore, are coherent even when they are not consistent.
It is important to note that conceptual metaphors can vary in different cultures.
Lakoff and Johnson use TIME IS MONEY because this is typically associated with
the Western culture. This metaphorical concept is typical for modern industrialised
societies but there are cultures where this is not the case.
2.5. Previous studies related to the theme of this thesis
Life and Death as an abstract field has drawn much attention from many linguists
and scholars, and so far many studies of metaphors of Life and Death from different
angles have been done. Among them, there are several outstanding studies that are
related to the topic of the present paper.
First of all, the research by Hurtado (2011) is about the analysis of metaphorical
language in the studied corpus which demonstrates the existence of conceptual
10

metaphor in the field of poetry. Moreover, this paper sustains that poetic thought is
rooted in the human cognitive experience.
Having analyzed different theories of metaphor, the researcher concludes that the
cognitive dimension of metaphor is undeniable. Metaphor is not a matter of literal
falsehood or a violation of the Cooperative Principle, but it resides in thought and
not merely in words.
On the other hand, this research gives evidence that poetic metaphor, deals with
central and indispensable aspects of our conceptual systems. Through the masterful

use of metaphoric processes on which our conceptual systems are based, poets
address our most important issues, as life and death, and help us illuminate them
through the extension, composition, and criticism of the basic metaphoric tools
through which we comprehend reality.
To the same topic, Nguyen, (2011) investigates the metaphor of life, death and time
in English and Vietnamese in the light of cognitive semantics based on the frame
work by Lakoff and Turner. The researcher tries to find out the similarities and
differences in the use of conceptual metaphors for life, death and time in English
and Vietnamese. The study brings about some contribution to not only the theory
and the appropriate use of conceptual metaphors but the translation work as well.
The study also points out that cultural awareness is at the heart of intercultural
communication. A lot of this has to do with language and behavior; with
pragmatics, beliefs and values. But intercultural communication should also
highlight the areas of commonality as well as divergence in terms of cultural and
linguistic behavior. All too often culturally stereotypical behavior is objectified and
described with insufficient reference to underlying factors that help explain and
elucidate. A conceptual approach to language can draw into focus areas of
divergence and commonality at another level of awareness and provides an extra
dimension to the understanding of linguistic and cultural norms. More specifically,
advanced learners in particular need to develop a "metaphoric competence" if they
are to attain a level of proficiency in English that will equip them for professional
11

lives that require a high level of language awareness, knowledge, understanding and
resourcefulness.
Another research on this theme is taken by Ruiz (2007) in which the researcher
studies how several death metaphors for example Death is departure, Death is cold,
Death is sleep are able to account for the basic meaning and interpretation of more
than thirty popular tales and myths. Besides, the researcher offers the possibility of
classifying tales according either to the basic metaphor they contain or to the

combination of metaphors that may comprise them. Additionally, the paper explores
in what ways the metaphors under scrutiny allow us to explain some of the uncanny
elements of tales. Finally, he suggests that these metaphors may have contributed to
an easier transmission of many fairy tales and also to make tales alike in different
socio – settings.
Sánchez (1999) tries to demonstrate that Stephen Dobyns makes an imaginative use
of conventional metaphors, and this imaginative use includes the modification of
some conventional metaphors, either by using parts of them, as in the case of ‗the
body is a vehicle‘, or by the modification of the ‗frame‘ as in the case of ‗life is a
journey‘. In the first case, the restriction of both domains results in a more powerful
metaphor. This is also achieved by means of negative metaphors such as ‗people are
not plants‘. And in the second case, the metaphorical concept ‗life is a journey‘ is
widened to cover a broader aspect of ‗life‘, i.e., life after physical death.
2.6. Summary
This chapter has provided a brief overview of different metaphor theories with the
focus on the theory employed as the basis for this research: the theory of conceptual
metaphor introduced in the work ―Metaphor We Live By‖ by Lakoff & Johnson
(1980). From such reviewing, a working definition of metaphor can be obtained for
this thesis. Moreover, in order to get deeper view of conceptual metaphors, some
outstanding studies that are related to the topic of the present paper are presented at
the end of the chapter.
12

CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1. Principles governing the research
3.1.1. Principles governing the research type
This is a qualitative study which is intended to provide an overview of the
conceptual metaphors used in Jack London‘s short stories about Life and Death.
Shank (2002: 5) defines qualitative research as ―a form of systematic empirical

inquiry into meaning‖. By systematic he means ―planned, ordered and public‖,
following rules agreed upon by members of the qualitative research community. By
empirical, he means that this type of inquiry is grounded in the world of experience.
Inquiry into meaning says researchers try to understand how others make sense of
their experience. Denzin and Lincoln (2000: 3) claim that qualitative research
involves an interpretive and naturalistic approach: ―This means that qualitative
researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to
interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them‖.
In the ground-breaking work ―Metaphors We Live By‖ (1980), Lakoff and Johnson
showed that metaphors are in fact a fundamental, structuring mechanism in the way
we interact with and perceive the world around us; a linguistic phenomenon so
common and easily accessible that we often do not notice that something is in fact a
metaphor.
As stated before, the purpose of this research is to find out the conceptual metaphor
of Life and Death in Jack London‘s short stories. For sayings of Life and Death,
Lakoff and Turner (1989: 1-2) present a very common basic conceptual metaphor in
western culture know as Death is departure. Instead of saying someone has died, it
is very common to say that someone is gone or that he has left this world or that he
has passed on. In the Western culture, life and death are extremely common to be
spoken of, written and even thought with a set of basic conceptual metaphors.
According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 3), we often fail to notice them as
metaphors at all because of their mundane nature. Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 6) go
13

on to explain that the reason for this is that human thought processes are largely
metaphorical, and that metaphor is in fact a primary tool for understanding our
world and ourselves.
Because of the fact that metaphors reside in thought instead of only in words, and
that we know unconsciously and automatically many basic metaphors for
understanding life, the writer does not have to state in detail and explain the

metaphors he uses, but can rely on the reader to know them by virtue of knowing
the basic conceptual metaphor.
3.1.2. Principles for the formulation of research questions
The researcher approaches the first question by looking at the metaphors of Life and
Death in the selected short stories in order to gain an understanding of the variety of
the metaphors used by Jack London. According to Lakoff and Turner (1989: 15), a
very large number of metaphorical expressions for Life and Death throughout
Western literature works are instances of a very small number of basic conceptual
metaphors through which we comprehend Life and Death, and the researcher hopes
to find out whether this can be applied in those short stories by Jack London as well.
The researcher also look at the metaphors of Life and Death presented in works by
Jack London and see if they could be traced back as an extension of some of the
most common basic conceptual metaphors in the Western world.
The hypothesis concerning the first research question is that there will be a great
deal of versatile metaphors of Life and death in Jack London‘s works, but also that
the majority of them can be traced back to a small number of basic conceptual
metaphors of death and also life. According to Goatly (1997: 21), it is not always
clear whether something is metaphorical or not – it can for example only be a sub
categorization – and analyzing texts examining metaphors usually requires some
interpretation. The researcher understands that someone may wish to argue some of
the choices she have made examining the data, since the metaphor exists in the
readers mind, and what is metaphorical for one reader may not be metaphorical for
another. Therefore, this hypothesis is based on both the researcher‘s personal
14

experiences as a reader of literary works and on her knowledge concerning the use
of metaphors.
The researcher approaches the conclusion on the first research question from the
point of view of the mapping for conceptual metaphor which was held by Lakoff
and Kövecses (2003: 84) that all of the image-schematic structure of the source that

is consistent with the target is mapped onto the target.
In order to answer the second research question the researcher looks into the
connection between Life and Death in terms of cognitive perspective which is
inherited from the Western culture. According to Lakoff & Johnson, Metaphorical
structuring is always partial and never total and that metaphorical concepts can be
coherent or consistent. Consistent metaphors ―form a single image,‖ while coherent
metaphors are ―subcategories of a major category and therefore share a major
common entailment‖. They do not form a single image but they ―fit together.‖ For
that reason, the researcher tries work out the link between the Life and Death
metaphor.
Finally, the purpose of this study is never to find every single metaphor of Life and
death – or something that can be counted separately – within these selected short
stories, but instead to gain a general understanding of the use of these metaphor in
literature and then to find out the possible implication for English language teaching
and learning.
3.2. Methods employed for the research
The major methods which are used for this method are documentary analysis and
observation. First of all, official documents include journals and textbooks are
collected. Any of these might give useful information, but they do not all provide
objective for the purpose of the research; therefore, they have to be contextualized
within the circumstances which the research needs for. The task for the researcher
is not to take such documents at face value, but to find out how they were
constructed, and how they are used and interpreted. This is why the researcher has
15

to take observation as one of the favored approaches. Here, the researcher adopts a
role as a member of American society to get a more comprehensive perspective of
life and death in everyday language.
3.2.1. Data collections instruments
Because of the particular characteristics of the study, it seems that reading and

reviewing documents are the most important and effective way to collect materials
for the research. Since it‘s very hard to find the original printing short stories of
Jack London, the researcher relies mainly on the materials from reliable websites in
the Internet. One of the outstanding advantages of this method is up dated, abundant
and authentic. After the process of researching and collecting data, the information
continues to be classified into different categories depending on the requirements of
the research in order to make it easy for the researcher to find and to analyze the
data. Besides collecting and reading the materials from the Internet, the most
relevant references from the library at Hanoi National University have been
selectively read in order to support the researcher with necessary and useful
information.
3.2.2. Data analysis techniques
After the process of reading and collecting data from Jack London‘s short stories,
the researcher starts to analyze the image of Life and Death in terms of conceptual
metaphor. From numerous samples taken from short stories by Jack London, the
researcher tries to choose the most interesting and concrete ones to illustrate
important points under the investigation. The next step is to synthesize the
information analyzed in order to fit into the thesis. The stage of analyzing and
synthesizing are all conducted manually. By analyzing and synthesizing, the
researcher hopes to be on the right way of mapping out the image of Life and Death
in Jack London‘s works.

16

3.2.3. Data analysis procedure
The study begins with a presentation of the theoretical background, namely the
theory of conceptual metaphor as formulated by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and
Lakoff and Turner (1989), and for the purpose of the study, the researcher collects
data through reading short stories by Jack London. While reading these references,
an action of selecting relevant information is taken simultaneously. After the data is

collected, the researcher starts analyzing and classifying the data into the suitable
categories of the thesis purpose. After that, the researcher synthesizes all the
metaphors to come the conclusion on the first research question by drawing image-
schematic structures of the sources which are mapped onto the target domain from
the point of view by Lakoff and Kövecses. To find the connection between Life and
Death in terms of cognitive perspective, the researcher try to interpret the possibility
of forming a single image or just being subcategories of a major metaphor of the
mapping which are found in the first research question based on Lakoff‘s view.
3.3. Summary
To conclude, in this chapter the two main methodological points haven been
presented. (i) The major principles governing the research. (ii) The main methods
employed for the research which includes collections instrument, data analysis
techniques and data analysis procedure.






17

CHAPTER 4
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Life Metaphors
4.1.1. Life is a journey
Traditionally, metaphor, along with other parts of ―creative‖ speech like similes,
hyperboles, etc., is viewed as fundamentally linguistic in nature and is ―assigned a
peripheral role in language, as an ornament or, at best, a mechanism for filling
lexical gaps in the language‖ (Deignan, 2005: 2) . In their groundbreaking work
―Metaphors We Live By‖, Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 4) maintained the idea that

―the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in
terms of another‖ but suggested that metaphors do not have a linguistic basis, but
rather a conceptual one.
One of the main basic metaphors that Lakoff and Turner use in their guide to poetic
metaphor is LIFE IS A JOURNEY. Following this metaphor, authors imply that the
structure of the LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor leads to consider certain
correspondences as a mapping between two conceptual domains, the source domain
– JOURNEY and the target domain - LIFE.
Literarily, Journey means ―an act of travelling from one place to another‖ ( Oxford
Dictionaries online). However, in Jack London‘s short stories, for the conceptual
metaphor ―LIFE IS A JOURNEY‖ the writer uses the source domain of a
JOURNEY to understand the target domain of LIFE in which, the metaphor
envisages life as a journey, with birth as the point of embarkation and death as the
final destination.
In a manner that closely resembles ―LIFE IS A JOURNEY‖ metaphor mapped by
Lakoff & Johnson, ―LIFE IS A JOURNEY‖ in works by Jack London can be
mapped out in the following way.

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Journey is Life
Life is often described as having a beginning, direction, destinations, obstacles,
turns and an end. In Jack London‘s works, the language which is used to describe
life is shaped by the superimposed imagery of a journey are nouns like ―trail‖,
―routine‖, ―peregrination‖, ―journey‖, ―the way of life‖, and verbs like ―follow‖,
―pass out‖, and ―come to the end‖. The following examples taken from some short
stories will help us to realize how this conceptual metaphor is mapped through the
means of lexical items.
―The long trail waited while the short day refused to linger. Life called her, and the
duties of life, not death.‖ (The law of life)

―Ah, there it was that the long trail began. Well, he had lasted longest.‖ (Lost face)
―Prince was led away by these uncrowned heroes who had seen history made, who
regarded the great and the romantic as but the ordinary and the incidental in the
routine of life.‖ (An Odyssey of the North)
―Since then my life had been one long peregrination - from the Orient to the
Occident, from the Arctic to the Antarctic to find myself at last, an able seaman at
thirty, in the full vigour of my manhood, drowning in San Francisco bay because of
a disastrously successful attempt to desert my ship.‖(A thousand deaths)
Traveler is Human
The way a traveler is described as part of the LIFE IS A JOURNEY conceptual
metaphor can be very revealing through the mapping of the traveler as human as in
the sentence ―Sole speck of life journeying across the ghostly wastes of a dead
world, he trembles at his audacity realizes that his is a maggot's life nothing more.‖
(The white silence)
A traveler‘s physical trouble can be considered the difficulty in accomplishing a
goal. This can be considered an extension of the Traveler - Human mapping. If a
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traveler conducts her journey and reaches her destination injured, blind, in physical
pain, etc., it implies an unexpected, additional degree of difficulty.
―Then began as grim a tragedy of existence as was ever played a sick man that
crawled, a sick wolf that limped, two creatures dragging their dying carcasses
across the desolation and hunting each other's lives.‖ (Love of life)
A further extension of the mapping has to do with the burden of the traveler. Here
we see the incorporation of the DIFFICULTY IS A BURDEN conceptual metaphor
into LIFE IS A JOURNEY. In general, the challenge of the journey grows
exponentially alongside the size and weight of the traveler‘s burden, something that
is reflected in the recorded speech samples below:
―He had carried his life too long in his hands, on that weary trail from Warsaw to
Nulato, to shudder at mere dying‖. (Lost face)

―Then the great tree, burdened with its weight of years and snow, played its last
part in the tragedy of life‖. (The White silence)
Weather conditions are Degree of hardships
One of the aspects of the journey domain that is used metaphorically when talking
about the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY is the weather condition. The
course of one‘s life may change suddenly or even come to an end just as the
weather is unpredictable and changeable. A clear view of the horizon means a clear
view of what lies ahead in life, in terms of both challenges and achievements.
Favorable weather means that life is going on without particular difficulty and
trouble. On the other hand, the hardships, often unexpected are manifested
metaphorically by the bad weather. In jack London‘s short stories, hardships of life
can be found in the following examples in short story The Great Interrogation.
―His bleak life rose up and smote him,—the vain struggle with pitiless forces; the
dreary years of frost and famine; the harsh and jarring contact with elemental life‖.
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Different Roads represent different Choices
On the way to reach their destination, travelers must choose and follow the certain
route. When they are flanked with many options along the way, humans must
determine which course they want their lives to take. When humans make decisions
about their career, morality, love, life, and so on, this is the equivalent of travelers
choosing to follow one road over another. Further proof that life is conceptualized
the same way as a journey can be found in the aspect that when journeying, people
may choose different directions and road in ―Sole speck of life journeying across
the ghostly wastes of a dead world, he trembles at his audacity realizes that his is a
maggot's life nothing more.‖ (The white silence) and ―It was the way of life, and it
was just.‖ (The law of life), also human beings have to follow the different parts of
their life as in ―There was life in the Northland. He would follow it, look upon it,
gloat over it.‖ (In a far country), this idea can be also illustrated in the following
example taken from the short story The god of his fathers: ―But when I was come to

that place, the priest stood in my way, and spoke soft words, and said a man in
anger should go neither to the right nor left, but straight to God‖.
To describe coming to an impasse in life, that is to feel left without choices, the
journey without any choices invoke the imagery of a dead-end as in ―From the
beginning, at Warsaw, at St. Petersburg, in the Siberian mines, in Kamtchatka, on
the crazy boats of the fur-thieves, Fate had been driving him to this end”. (Love of
life).
4.1.2. Life is a fighting/ Life is a battle
It is the fact that not all metaphors for Life are positive. The battle perspective is
often assumed by people who feel like the whole world is against them. The
characters in short stories by Jack London often hold this school of thought because
they experience a lot of stress, and conflict with the nature. This ubiquitous survival
thesis takes on protean forms in London's early stories. For examples, not only is
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man forced to do battle with nature, with animals, but also with other men to
survive.
When mapping the metaphor LIFE IS A FIGHTING/ LIFE IS A BATTLE, it is
important to notice that we don't just talk about LIFE in terms of A BATTLE/ A
FIGHTING. People can actually win or lose in the battle. They often consider the
person they are fighting with an opponent. People attack other positions and they
defend their own. They may gain and lose ground and also plan and use strategies.
If people find a position indefensible, they can abandon it and take a new line of
attack. Many of the things people do when they are in fighting are partially
structured by the concept of fighting. Though there is no physical battle, there is a
verbal battle, and the structure of an argument - attack, defense, counterattack, etc. -
clearly reflects this. It is in this sense that the LIFE IS A FIGHTING/ LIFE IS A
BATTLE metaphor is one that people live by in this culture; it structures the actions
people perform in arguing.
In Jack London‘s short stories, we can find numerous sentences reflecting this

conceptual metaphor with the lexical items through nouns and verbs such as race,
survival, game, strike, drive on, decline, defy, surrender, gather strength, face, lose
battle, injure, save, finish, struggle for, fight, suffer, win, smote, lose etc,.
First of all, the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS FIGHTING / LIFE IS A BATTLE is
created with the image battle is a game of life ―which no man wins‖. This point can
be found in "Life is a strange thing. Much have I thought on it, and pondered long,
yet daily the strangeness of it grows not less, but more. Why this longing for Life? It
is a game which no man wins.‖(The grit of woman)
People fight with an opponent known as Death; let us examine some examples to
have a deeper view on this mapping.