Metaphor and Metonymy

Textual Analysis

The text is an extract from Nice Work, by David Lodge. In this extract the two protagonists are in Vic’s car when they see some Silk Cut advertisement. The narrator uses the narrative technique of showing in which the narrator report characters’ speech. He exploits the conversation between Robyn and Vic to inform the intelligent reader about the way language works. In the first part Robyn makes explicit the hidden message of the advertisement using semiotics, the study of signs. It follows that the language is the centre of this fictional product, David Lodge want to draw the intelligent reader reflects about language.

This extract provides the intelligent reader an idea of Derrida’s concept of definition, he thought that we get meaning to difference. Robyn try to explain to Vic the linguistic system of the advertisement but the reader understand that Vic doesn’t understand everything. The advertisement adopts figures of speech to persuade the buyer, the language of an advertisement refers to the working of poetry.  Then Robyn focus the reader attention to two figure of speech: metaphor and metonymy. “Metaphor is a figure of speech based to similarity, whereas metonymy is based on contiguity.” . To explain this concept Robyn uses a lot of examples and by this the intelligent reader could understand that people are subjected by language. Different people use different figure of speech, Vic for example doesn’t understand metaphorical language and he speaks in a metonymic way. At contrary Robyn uses a metaphorical language.

Concluding David Lodge’s writing is a metawriting, indeed he speaks about writing and speaking in this text.