Understanding Literal and Figurative Meanings
Abstract
The readers should know that words may have both literal and figurative meanings; thus they have to be careful when they try to understand the text because it can lead to a misunderstanding of the text; for example, The waves rocked the boat from side to side. He kept his feelings to himself, not wanting to rock the boat. The first sentence, the waves move the boat backwards and forwards or from side to side. Therefore, the phrase “rock the boat” in the first sentence has a literal meaning. However, in the second sentence the phrase “rock the boat” means to cause problems for other members of a group by criticizing something or trying to change the way something is done. In this case, the phrase “rock the boat” has a figurative meaning. Also, there are various kinds of figurative meanings that the readers should know about, as follows:
Keywords: Literal Meaning, Figurative Meanings, Interpretation
Introduction
- Simile
A simile is a figurative speech that directly compares two things by using some connective, frequently “as,” “like,” “than,” or a verb such as “resemble”; for example:
1. Suchart is as strong as an ox.
2. Yaya is like a candy so sweet.
3. That spider was as fat as an elephant.
4. “I’m happier than a tornado in a trailer park!” (Source: Mater, Cars)
However, some sentences using “as,” “like,” “than,” are not simile because they are not figurative speech; for example:
1. Suparp is as tall as his older brother.
2. These shoes are like old-fashioned shoes in the former time.
3. Sukanya is happier than her younger sister when she goes to school.
2. Metaphor
A metaphor differs from a simile because a metaphor compares two unlike things by saying that the one thing is the other thing without using “as” or “like.” That means the object or person is actually described as BEING something else. There are two kinds of metaphors:
2.1 Direct metaphor
It will directly say that the one thing is the other thing; for instance:
1. “Love is a rose,” “Rose” is the vehicle for “love,” the tenor. (Neil Young’ Song)
2. He was a crafty fox.
3. We are all travelers on this long road of life. There are many stops, many side trips, many adventures, and many ways to lose one’s way. (This is an expanded and frequently used metaphor, directly comparing people to travelers and life itself to a long road, or journey.)
2.2 Indirect or implied metaphor
It will directly say that the one thing is given the feature of something else by sending out the figurative meaning; for example;
1. She ran quickly between the two campuses, a rabbit between two rabbit holes.
2. “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” — Thomas Jefferson
3. Personification
Personification is to give human traits such as feelings, action, qualities or characteristics to non-living objects like things, colors, ideas or qualities. That means making the non-living objects act everything human beings do; for instance:
1. The wind sang her mournful song through the falling leaves.
2. The microwave timer told me it was time to turn my TV dinner.
3. The snow whispered as it fell to the ground during the early morning hours.
4. The car engine coughed and sputtered when it started during the blizzard.
4. Symbol
A symbol is a thing could be an object, person, action, or situation which stands for something else more abstract and a symbol is also universal; for example:
1. In the street signs, we fear the color red. (The color red is a symbol of danger.)
2. White stands for life and purity.
3. Blue represents peacefulness and calm.
4. A mirror can denote the sun but when it is broken, it can represent an unhappy union or a separation.
5. Paradox
A paradox is a term in rhetoric for a statement or situation that seems self-contradictory and absurd, but may contain an insight into life; for instance:
1. To bring peace we must war.
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2. Less is more.
3. In marriage, two people become one yet remain two.
4. I am nobody.
6. Hyperbole
A hyperbole is an overstatement that is not intended to be taken literal. It is used as a means of emphasizing the truth of a statement; for example:
1. I am so hungry I could eat a horse.
2. I have a million things to do.
3. I had a ton of homework.
4. That joke is so old, the last time I heard it I was riding on a dinosaur.
7. Understatement
An understatement is the presentation of a thing with under emphasis in order to achieve a greater effect; for instance:
1. “The desert is sometimes dry and sandy.”(describing the driest desert in the world)
2. “I wouldn’t say he was thin.” (describing a very obese person)
3. “Mumbai is not the cheapest place in the world” (instead of saying Mumbai is expensive)
4. “We have had a little rain.” (when the entire area is flooded)
8. Irony
An irony is a figure of speech when an expression used is the opposite of the thought in the speaker’s mind. An irony will convey a meaning that contradicts the literal definition; for instance:
1. A man who is a traffic cop gets his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets.
2. Later on in the lesson the teacher completely embarrasses the student, by illustrating how their points were both foolish and ignorant. (The Socratic teaching method encourages students to think and present opposing views while the teacher plays ignorant.)
3. An ambulance driver goes to a nighttime bike accident scene and runs over the accident victim because the victim has crawled to the center of the road with their bike.
4. A person who claims to be a vegan and avoids meat but will eat a slice of pepperoni pizza because they are hungry.
Conclusion
To sum up, the same word can mean different things to different people. Thus, when you want to convey the meaning of each word, you have to be careful about literal and figurative meanings. Literal meaning is the commonly used language, while figurative meaning is an imaginative language, or it encourages you to use your imagination. You will know if someone uses figurative meaning when the literal meaning doesn’t quite make sense. Also, figurative meaning gives connotative meanings of words while literal meaning gives denotative meanings of words.
References
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