Metonymy and
Synecdoche
Synecdoche: Parts and Wholes
Synecdoche and
metonymy, two very particular types of metaphorical expression in which one
word is representative for another word or concept. But before we start, let me
ask you: Have you ever checked out someone's wheels? Put on a Band-Aid after
getting a cut? Cheered on New York during a football game? Even if you haven't,
I bet you perfectly understand what each of those sentences mean: That when I
say 'wheels' I mean 'car,' when I say 'Band-Aid' I mean an adhesive bandage and
when I say 'New York,' I mean whichever team from New York happens to be
playing.
These are all
examples of synecdoche. In
synecdoche, a part of something is used to refer to the whole entity, or a
whole entity is used to refer to part of something. Some examples? This happens
every time someone refers to 'Americans' when what they really mean is the
citizens of the United States of America. 'Americans' is a synecdoche for the
USA and does not include every member of the entire continents of North or South America (sorry, Canada!). Another
synecdoche in everyday usage is when someone asks for your number. You know
what they are really asking you for is your phone number and not just a
collection of random digits. Here are a couple more examples:
- 'Hey man, nice threads.' Threads, here, refers to clothes (part of something referring to the whole).
- 'The stage was nearly set up, but the conductor didn't have enough space for the strings.' Here, 'strings' is synecdoche for a single unit: the 'string section.'
Synecdoche: Materials and Containers
Sometimes the
material an item is made of can be used as synecdoche in place of the actual
object. When a sword is referred to as 'steel,' for instance, this is
synecdoche, since the entire sword is probably not made of steel. Moreover, the
sword could be made of another metal altogether, but the historical connection
between 'steel' and 'sword' is powerful enough to make it synecdoche
nonetheless.
Likewise, if someone
asks, 'Are you wearing Kevlar?' you might know from watching enough action
movies that this is synecdoche for a bulletproof vest, while using 'plastic' at
the grocery store means putting the bill on your credit card because credit
cards are made of plastic. As with materials, containers can sometimes come to
refer to the objects they contain - another form of synecdoche. As in, 'Nazie
drank the cup,' which doesn't literally mean that Nazie swallowed a small cup,
but rather that she drank the contents of the cup. Likewise, 'The bartender is
giving away the bar,' means that he or she is giving out too many free drinks,
which is the stuff the bar contains.
Metonymy
Metonymy is when a thing refers to something
else that it's closely associated with, but unlike synecdoche, the part does
not have to refer to the whole, or vice versa. Remember when we talked about
how 'wheels' was synecdoche for 'car?' Here's the metonym version of the same:
'It was the town's mechanic, not the
rich lawyer, who had the nicest ride.'
'Ride' here is a metonym for 'car'
because riding is something you do in an automobile, but the 'ride' is not a
part of the automobile and therefore does not qualify as synecdoche.
Here's another
example: If someone asks you how many plates there are going to be at dinner,
what they're really asking you is how many guests are going to show up. Plates
are intimately associated with the act of eating, which is what dinner guests
typically do, and therefore 'plates' is metonymic for 'dinner guests.'
Similarly, if someone tells you 'You have nice kicks,' that's a metonym for
shoes, since kicking is something you do with your feet and you wear shoes on
your feet. It's not parts referring to wholes (that's synecdoche) but
contextual associations linking one word to its meaning in conversation or
writing. Technically, synecdoche is actually a very specific kind of metonymy,
but synecdoche is a little easier to wrap your head around, and other types of
metonymy don't get their own specific categories.
Metonymy is different
from a metaphor. A metaphor draws resemblance
between two different things as in “You are sunlight and I moon” – Sun And
Moon from Miss Saigon. Sunlight (and moon) and human are two different
things without any association but it attempts to describe one thing in terms
of another based on a supposed similarity. Metonymy, however, develops relation
on the grounds of close associations as in “The White House is concerned about
terrorism.” The White House here represents the people who work in it.
Examples
of Metonymy in Everyday Life
We use metonymy frequently in our
everyday life. For a better understanding, let us observe a few metonymy
examples:
- England decides to keep check on immigration. (England refers to the government.)
- The pen is mightier than the sword. (Pen refers to written words and sword to military force.)
- The Oval Office was busy in work. (“The Oval Office” is a metonymy as it stands for people at work in the office.)
- Let me give you a hand. (Hand means help.)
Function of Metonymy
Generally,
metonymy is used in developing literary symbolism i.e. it gives
more profound meanings to otherwise common ideas and objects. By using
metonymy, texts exhibit deeper or hidden meanings and thus drawing readers’
attention. In addition, the use of metonymy helps achieve conciseness.
For instance, “Rifles were guarding the gate” is more concise than “The guards
with rifles in their hands were guarding the gate.”
Furthermore,
metonymy, like other literary
devices, is employed to add a poetic color to words to make them
come to life. The simple ordinary things are described in a creative way to
insert this “life” factor to the literary works.
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