Metaphors: The way science talks about female eggs as “dormant” and “a damsel in distress” is in sharp contrast to “strong,” “efficiently powered” male sperm (7, 8, 6). The metaphor of the sperm as on a “mission” to a “bride awaiting her mate’s magic kiss” is a funny one (7). The imagery and metaphors depict the female body parts as inferior to the male parts.

There is one metaphor that dominates the business world. That metaphor is the military. It suggests the way people in business think about themselves and what they do.

Consider these samples of organizational talk. Organizations have a staff, line, and chain of command. They develop strategy and tactics. Organizations give people marching orders, pass muster, attack competitors, recruit MBAs, conduct basic training, converse with the brass at headquarters, wage campaigns, access the rank and rile, field well-drilled salesmen, deplore a garrison mentality, retreat, gather intelligence, do battle, fire traitors, recruit spies, consider mutiny, employ diversionary tactics, launch frontal assaults, discipline their troops, and lament that the code of conduct doesn’t work.

Why does the military metaphor have such a grip on managers? For one thing, a  military metaphor is an ideal self-fulfilling prophecy. Suppose I go into a situation assuming that the person I’m about to meet wants to fight. That person sees my hostile, menacing appearance and responds in kind with a hostile display. So I conclude that my original prediction was correct: the other person did want to fight. It never dawns on me that I’m the one who creat4ed the fight. It’s the same with business. If I assume that doing business is like waging war, then this presumption creates the very wars that I predicted. Since I never realize the true origins of those wars in my own presumptions, the wars and the combat go on and on.

But military metaphors might persist for other reasons. People don’t like to deal with uncertainty and disorder, so they impose military trappings like hierarchies and they impose spans of control to conceal the disorder. Military imagery probably also persists because it is tough, macho, exciting.

One might even suppose that military metaphors persist because business attracts authoritarian people to powerful positions where those people then impose their view of the world on others. Remember, authoritarian people are not just autocrats. They adhere to conventional values and condemn those who don’t; they are opposed to anything that is subjective and tender-minded; they are preoccupied with dominance-submission, strong-weak, and leader-follower in any relationship; they have an uncritical attitude toward their own group, and they are concerned with knowing the right people rather than with any exchange of affection. Those characteristics sound just like what you would expect to find in a military organization. If that same pattern is also found among the top people in nonmilitary organizations, then it is not too surprising that as their vision diffuses down through the organization, people will describe the place with military language.

Whatever its origins, the military metaphor is a bad choice when used alone because it forces people to entertain a very limited set of solutions to solve any problem and a very limited set of ways to organize themselves. They solve problems by discharging people (honorably or otherwise), tightening controls, introducing discipline, sending for reinforcements, or clarifying responsibilities – since that’s what you do when an army sags. And the only way they know to organize themselves is into some kind of hierarchy.

Chronic usage of the military metaphor will lead people repeatedly to overlook a different kind of organization, one that values improvisation rather than forecasting, dwells on opportunities rather than constraints, invents solutions rather than borrows them, devises new actions rather than defends past actions, values argument more highly than serenity, and encourages doubt and contradiction rather than belief. That kind of organization has advantages that a military organization doesn’t, but to see those advantages, different metaphors are needed.

…Other metaphors are needed to capture different private realities that exist right alongside those military realities.

Lakoff and Johnson suggest that most people usually consider a metaphor as “a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish – a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language.” They go on to say that metaphors are generally considered as an element of language only and not thought or action.

2)      How do they define “metaphor”?

They seem to define metaphor as a device that is prevalent in ordinary and everyday life in our language, thoughts, and actions.

3)      What do they mean by the following: “Our conceptual system is largely metaphorical”? (pg 3)

I believe they mean that much of the way we think and form ideas is with metaphors. Our conceptual system, as the authors note, governs our everyday functioning. The “argument is war” example is a good example of how metaphors are present in our thoughts and action, sometimes without us thinking about them.

4)      What do they mean by a “metaphorical concept”?  (pg 6)

They mean that metaphors in language are not possible without their presence in our conceptual systems. Therefore, they consider metaphors to be the same as “metaphorical concepts.”

5)      They write on page 11 that “linguistic expressions are containers for meaning entails that words (and sentences) have meanings…independent of contexts and speakers.” But they argue that words = ideas and ideas / concepts / beliefs arise from our context and experience. For example, how would you complete the following thought [with one word?]:

Moms are __loving__________.

To what degree is the way you completed this sentence based on your own experience and background and from the notion (concept) of what “moms are” from the culture in which you’ve been immersed and exposed?

I think me choosing the word “loving” is based on half of my own experience and half of what society and culture expects of moms. For instance, society pictures moms as caring, nurturing, and kind to their children. My mom is all of these, so the way I completed this sentence comes from both experiences.

6)      True or false: All language is figurative (metaphorical). Explain and defend your answer, providing examples.

True. The authors said that “the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.” We must, as in the “time is money” example, understand the terms and concepts with money in order to understand and talk about time as if it is money.

Since Roger and Mark were locked out of their apartment, everyone shows up on New Year’s Eve to try and break open the padlock. Joanne brings a rope which Mark, her, and Maureen use to climb up into the apartment. Meanwhile, Collins and Angel come with a blow torch. Just as they’re opening the door, Benny comes with keys to present back to Roger and Mark. He decides it’s just not worth it to fight. He claims Mimi’s seductive ways convinced him when Mimi wasn’t doing that at all. Angel interrupts, and they all toast to a new year. Joanne and Maureen get into a fight, as do Roger and Mimi. Roger and Mimi sing “Without You,” and somehow Roger and Mimi and Maureen and Joanne are back together by the end of the song. Angel dies of AIDS with Collins by his side.

2) What do you think the main theme of Rent is?

I think the main theme of Rent is dealing with issues. Some of these issues are everyday things like fights with significant others, miscommunication, etc. Other issues are bigger like poverty, drugs, and AIDS. Rent deals with all of these, so I feel like all of these issues can be considered the main theme.

3) How might this story be different if it were told through the eyes of Mimi or Joanne or Benny rather than [implicitly] Mark?

The story wouldn’t be as drastically different as it would’ve been with The Stranger, but it still would be different. Mark isn’t dealing with as many issues as the other characters. He is impoverished, but he doesn’t have AIDS or relationship problems. If Mimi told the story, we would probably hear more about her personal way of dealing with drugs, AIDS, etc. The story would be completely different had Benny told it. He would not have shown much sympathy and compassion to the other characters in his writing. He, also, is not dealing with poverty, drugs, and AIDS, so his portrayal would not show much, if any, emphasis on those things.

4) What do you think you’ll write on for your short paper [see Assignments / Seq 3 for details]?

I’ll probably write about the AIDS epidemic because dealing with AIDS is probably the biggest problem in Rent. Sometimes, the references to AIDS are not obvious, so it will be good to get a better understanding of the epidemic to better relate it to the text.

5) What questions do you have at this point? [about Rent or the short paper]

I don’t have any questions right now!

Since Roger and Mark were locked out of their apartment, everyone shows up on New Year’s Eve to try and break open the padlock. Joanne brings a rope which Mark, her, and Maureen use to climb up into the apartment. Meanwhile, Collins and Angel come with a blow torch. Just as they’re opening the door, Benny comes with keys to present back to Roger and Mark. He decides it’s just not worth it to fight. He claims Mimi’s seductive ways convinced him when Mimi wasn’t doing that at all.  Angel interrupts, and they all toast to a new year. Joanne and Maureen get into a fight, as do Roger and Mimi. Roger and Mimi sing “Without You,” and somehow Roger and Mimi and Maureen and Joanne are back together by the end of the song. Angel dies of AIDS with Collins by his side.

2)   What do you think the main theme of Rent is?

I think the main theme of Rent is dealing with issues. Some of these issues are everyday things like fights with significant others, miscommunication, etc. Other issues are bigger like poverty, drugs, and AIDS. Rent deals with all of these, so I feel like all of these issues can be considered the main theme.

3)   How might this story be different if it were told through the eyes of Mimi or Joanne or Benny rather than [implicitly] Mark?

The story wouldn’t be as drastically different as it would’ve been with The Stranger, but it still would be different. Mark isn’t dealing with as many issues as the other characters. He is impoverished, but he doesn’t have AIDS or relationship problems. If Mimi told the story, we would probably hear more about her personal way of dealing with drugs, AIDS, etc. The story would be completely different had Benny told it. He would not have shown much sympathy and compassion to the other characters in his writing. He, also, is not dealing with poverty, drugs, and AIDS, so his portrayal would not show much, if any, emphasis on those things.

4)   What do you think you’ll write on for your short paper [see Assignments / Seq 3 for details?

I’ll probably write about the AIDS epidemic because dealing with AIDS is probably the biggest problem in Rent. Sometimes, the references to AIDS are not obvious, so it will be good to get a better understanding of the epidemic to better relate it to the text.

5)   What questions do you have at this point? [about Rent or the short paper]

I don’t have any questions right now!

1)   Describe your response to the first act of Rent.

I don’t think I like reading a musical in general very much. Reading dialogue that is supposed to be sung is a little boring and weird. It’s hard to imagine what characters are thinking and imagine the setting as it is described in stage directions. Watching and reading a musical are two very different methods, and I enjoy watching a musical way more than reading one.

2)   Where do you see elements of intertextuality in Rent—places where other texts or historical elements or figures are coming into play?

Several gaps and borders, such as poverty, drugs, and AIDS, are prevalent in Rent. Also, much of the musical is based on La Boheme. Poverty is clearly evident in the opening scene where Roger and Mark have no heat or electricity because they cannot afford their rent. Drugs are prevalent especially in the scene where Mimi and others are talking to “The Man.” AIDS is mentioned several times in the first act. One specific mention is when Collins meets Angel. I’m not sure what I’ll write about yet specifically because all of these are things I have not experienced.

3)   How does Rent relate to the course theme of “isolation and community” in your mind?

Community is an important theme in Rent as can be seen in the feelings of the characters in the musical. They all seem to have a sense of community with each other and will do almost anything for each other. In a sense, they may also be considered isolated from the rest of society in a physical and mental sense as they live in a impoverished neighborhood and also deal with the issues of drugs and AIDS which are issues that a lot of America was not dealing with at the time.

4)   What questions do you have about what you’ve read up to this point?

I think I have any questions at this point.

§         Written by Jonathan Larson

§         “rock opera” musical, book is in script form

§         Much of the story is based on his life: friends with AIDS, living in a run-down apartment in NYC, etc.

§         Based on Italian opera La Boheme

§         La Boheme is about tuberculosis outbreak in 19^th Century Paris

§         Set in Lower East side of New York in Bohemian Alphabet City

§         Deals with AIDS, homosexuality, and poverty

§         Seventh-longest-running musical in history

§         “Rent” can also mean “to tear apart with force or violence; an apt metaphor for the turmoil in the community the            characters are describing”

§         Larson wanted to reinvent the musical

2)      Building on work you did in sequence 1 & 2, discuss gaps and borders you might face in reading and watching and writing about Rent. If you’ve already seen Rent, either the musical and/or the film version, you can approach this from the standpoint of how you could better understand the film—or from the standpoint of someone who has never seen it. [at least 300 words]

A large gap that I face is the fact that I was not exposed to the tumultuous culture of the eighties. All of the political and social happenings were influential on Larson and his creation Rent. AIDS was thriving in New York City. Larson himself had an AIDS scare. Personally, I cannot relate to poverty or AIDS, as I am not affected by either, thank God. However, the time period and setting are a lot easier to relate to in comparison to Algeria in the 1930s in The Stranger.

I have never seen Rent, so I’m mostly unaware of what will happen throughout the book. I am very unaware still today of AIDS and its effects on society. I do not realize its severity and how it ruins peoples’ lives. This is a large border in my understanding of the novel. Another border is the fact that the book is written in script form. I’ve seen musicals but have not read the scripts, so it’ll be different for me to read Rent. I am actually pretty excited to delve into this text!

The two narrative elements that I’ll focus on for my long paper are tone and figurative language. I chose tone because it is an element that my presentation group looked at in detail. The tone of Meursault is crucial to how the reader interprets the story. His unexcited, emotionless tone is a large theme of the text. If he showed emotion or if another character told the story, we, as the readers, would get a totally different feeling about the book and take away a different impression. His tone is also related to the absurd philosophy. The way he tells his story is based around absurdity.

Figurative language, particularly metaphors, is an important part of The Stranger. The metaphor that I will focus on is the sun. Camus mentions the sun several times throughout the novel. As we discussed in class, the sun could represent Meursault’s conflict. It could also be a way of Meursault expressing his repressed emotions. I want to further look into reasons why the sun is mentioned so many times and other possible meanings. This will be done with my own reflections on the book as well as outside scholarly sources.

Some passages that I’ll focus on for tone are the funeral scene, Meursault’s interactions with Marie, the final scene where Meursault has his outburst, and some scenes with the sun in them. These passages include the beach and murder scene, swimming with Marie, and some of the jail scenes.

As always, I’m worried that I won’t have enough material to fill 5-6 pages, as I am having trouble writing all 300 words of this blog. Also, maybe my definition of tone is actually point of view? I’m not sure. I will certainly need to spend a good deal of time researching and writing this paper.