Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (Summary and Response)
The reading, Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, talks about how metaphor is not just a way to make the ordinary language sound extraordinary but has surpassed such characteristics and have become a part of the conceptual system through which we think and behave. One way to understand this is through the language we use. Lakoff and Johnson propose that since metaphorical expressions are tied up with the metaphorical concepts, we can simply use these expressions to understand the metaphorical nature of our activities. To further expand on this idea, the authors employ a simple metaphorical concept of “Time is Money.” Money can be spent, wasted or even saved. Since in our culture, the time has the same attributes, money can be a metaphorical concept for the time. What is also an important aspect of metaphorical concepts is that it helps one in comprehending something in terms of something else but at the same time, it will hide all other aspects of the concept. In extreme cases, like the conduit metaphor where the speaker encloses the ideas (objects) into words (container) and sends it to a potential listener (a conduit), it is sometimes imperative to know the context to fully understand what the message is. In my opinion, after reading this text, I realize that the understanding of the word metaphor that I knew up until now was very basic. What really amazed me is how culture plays a remarkably important role in developing such metaphorical concepts. Moreover, since I am from another country, what is astounding to see is how certain concepts can be the same throughout the globe.
The Egg and The Sperm by Emily Martin (Summary and Response)
The article, The Egg and The Sperm by Emily Martin, discusses the male-female stereotypes that have now been incorporated into the world of human biology. The author starts off the article by expressing some of her personal feelings about the whole issue; she is intrigued to see how impactful our culture has become that it now affects the people (scientists) who are considered to be “reasonable and unbiased.” It just seems as if biologist wants to portray sperm in an active and a heroic role whereas, the egg is just shown to be weak and timid. Throughout the article, Martin points out to the sexist biologist who praises the sperm for managing through such an “arduous journey”, penetrating through the egg and creating new life, as if the sperm was meant to achieve great things. While on the other hand, eggs are just conceived using words that connotes something unwanted and unpleasant. The whole female reproductive physiology is frowned upon by the scientists. They think that menstruation is a system “making products of no use.” They call the ovary of a healthy American female a “scarred, battered organ.” Not only this, the scientist also regard the oogenesis “wasteful” since they produce so many eggs and only a handful of them mature and are useful to women. In the midst of these allegations, the author puts light on the real irony behind this whole issue where an average male produces almost one trillion sperms in his lifetime and only a few of them are useful while all others are nothing but waste. In the end, Martin condemns these scientists and asks for the feminists to use metaphors that will naturalize the social conventions about gender. In my opinion, I felt that our culture has impacted every possible aspect of our society even the parts where there is completely no need for it. Especially fields, such as human biology where impartiality is fundamental, applying stereotypes would not only cause more controversies but also hinder our ability to advance and understand the human body better.
Connection
The connection between the two texts is quite apparent. The metaphorical concepts that Lakoff and Johnson are trying to explain to their audience are, in other words, the stereotype Martin talks about in her work. The metaphorical concept that the male will always dominate the female can be seen in the hierarchical imagery employed by Martin. Words such as “penetrate”, “invariably active” and “heroic” all depict the masculinity and superiority of the sperm. It goes without saying that these characteristics develop the metaphorical concept of the stereotypical society we live in.