Introduction

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on 2 March, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts. More

famously known to the world as Dr Seuss, he is the author of many children’s books such as

The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax and Green Eggs and Ham. (Biography.com, n.d.) His work is

well known for its creative usage of rhymes, vocabulary and the many messages behind his

‘innocent’ children literature that attacks prejudice. His story Yertle the Turtle (1958) was taken

as inspiration from the rise of Hitler while The Sneetches were Dr Seuss’ opposition of anti-

Semitism. It is interesting to note the subtle yet ingenious use of his language to present his

ideas especially in children literature. Additionally, another semantic feature that Dr Seuss

utilizes in many of his works is metaphor. The following will be an introduction of metaphors

and its presence in children’s literature.

There have been various definition of the term metaphor. One of the earliest was

according to Aristotle (1946) in his book the Poetics, he says, “A metaphor consists in giving

the thing a name that belongs to something else…” Goodman (1969) further expresses that

metaphor is associated with conflict and that “application of a term is metaphorical only if to

some extent contraindicated.” According to Lakoff and Johnson (2003), metaphor is a tool of

the “poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish.”

Now looking at metaphors in children literature, there have been several research done

in this particular branch. Metaphors are usually used to relate two unrelated things on the bases

of some similarities between them. Most of the time, children get the wrong concept of the

metaphors used because of their limited knowledge and experience in the world as compared

to adults. (Tehseem & Khan, 2015) Although having said that, metaphors are still abundant in

children’s literature as it is one of the most familiar figure of speech that author uses to describe

one thing in terms of another as a literary device. Children on the other hand will understand
these metaphors according to their age, their mental cognition and their general level of

understanding ability. (Tehseem & Khan, 2015) Ellen Winner (1999) states that there are two

kinds of metaphors used in literature, the first being spontaneous usage of metaphor and the

second is intentional use of metaphor. Spontaneous use of metaphors occurs when the author

is not conscious of the metaphors used in delivering their ideologies while the intentional use

happens in the case of children’s literature because “they provide a visual description of the

concepts” (Tehseem & Khan, 2015). Authors will be able to create mental images in the minds

of the children to aid in their understanding of the ideologies presented. Therefore the basic

function of using metaphor in children’s literature is to understand the concept of things.

“Metaphorical thinking shapes our view of the world, and is essential to how we

communicate, learn, discover and invent” (Geary, 2011). This statement goes to show how

metaphors can and are used in literature targeted at children to aid in their learning of language

and ideas of the world. There are many different types of metaphors used in children’s literature.

Absolute metaphor, active metaphor, complex metaphor, compound metaphor, dead metaphor,

extended metaphor, implicit metaphor, mixed metaphor, root metaphor, submerged metaphor,

orientational metaphor, structural metaphor, ontological metaphors and conduit metaphors.

This analysis would be based on Lakoff and Johnson’s type of metaphor which have

not been researched as much as the other types of metaphors. In their book Metaphors We Live

By, they have explained four types of metaphor, structural metaphor, conduit metaphor,

orientational metaphor and ontological metaphor. Structural metaphors are cases where one

concept is metaphorically structured in terms of another. An example given in their book is the

expression ‘Argument is war’. Many words used in relation to arguments such as ‘indefensible’,

‘wipe out’, ‘shot down’ and ‘right on time’ to name a few are all taken from a war context but

have been structurally constructed to the action of arguing. According to Lakoff and Johnson,
“the essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of

another” and that is how argument is talked about in terms of a war.

According to Michael Reddy, our language about language is structured roughly into 3

complex metaphors, 1. Ideas (or Meanings) are objects. 2. Linguistic expressions are containers.

3. Communication is sending. Therefore, the speaker would out ideas (objects) into words

(containers) and sends them (along a conduit) to a hearer who takes the idea out of the word.

Orientational metaphor differs from structural metaphors in the concept of metaphorically

structuring a word in terms of another. It however organizes a ‘whole system of concepts with

respect to one another’. Most orientational metaphor contains spatial orientation such as up-

down, in-out, on-off, front-back. In ontological metaphor, understanding personal experiences

in terms of objects and substances allows the speaker to treat parts of their experiences as

discrete entities. When this has been done, the speaker can categorize, group and quantify these

entities. There are two types of ontological metaphor and they are personification, which allows

a speaker to experience nonhuman entities in terms of living and animate objects, and

metonymy, unlike personification uses one entity to refer to another that is related to it. It has

more of a referential function and allows the use of one entity to stand for another.

The text that is to be analysed is a short story from Dr Seuss, How the Grinch Stole

Christmas. A thorough reading of the text will be done and then the metaphors in the text will

be identified and categorized into the four types of metaphors explained above: structural

metaphor, conduit metaphor, orientational metaphor and ontological metaphor.

Analysis

After a thorough reading of the text, the metaphors identified and their frequency are

tabulated in the table below. Metaphors identified are displayed in Table 1. The frequency of

the metaphors are tabulated in Table 2.

 No Types of Metaphors
1 Structural metaphor
2 Conduit metaphor
3 Orientational metaphor
4 Ontological metaphor
.Table 1: Metaphors identified in the text How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr Seuss.
No Types of
Metaphor
1 Structural
2 Conduit
3 Orientational
4 Ontological
Table 2: Frequency of the different metaphors used in the text.
Metaphors Identified
his heart was two sizes too small
sweet dreams
small heart grew three sizes
his heart didn't feel quite so tight
whizzed with his load through the bright morning light
his head wasn't screwed on just right
sour, Grinchy frown
warm lighted windows
his Grinch fingers
Grinchy trick
windows were dark
Quiet snow
Grinchy Claus
he slithered and slunk
as quick as a flash
small sound like the coo of a dove
Christmas is coming
sound rising over the snow
sound wasn't sad
sound sounded merry
his puzzler was sore
Frequency of Examples
Occurrence
4 Sweet dreams
1 …whizzed…through the bright
morning light
1 His head wasn’t screwed on just right
15 Quick as a flash
 Discussion

Metaphors have been analysed over the years against children’s literature regarding its

presence, usage and functions. However, there are not many analysis done regarding the four

types of metaphor as mentioned by Lakoff and Johnson. Therefore in analysing a children’s

literature text, specifically this one by Dr Seuss will look into these four types of metaphors

and its functions in the text.

As can be seen in the analysis, out of the 21 metaphors identified in the text, there is a

very small amount of conduit metaphor and orientational metaphor. Only one metaphor can be

identified for each metaphor. For conduit metaphor, the metaphor identified is ‘whizzed with

his load through the bright morning light’. The only orientational metaphor is the sentence ‘his

head wasn’t screwed on just right’.

There were four structural metaphors identified that uses one word to give further

meaning to another word. For example the term ‘sweet dreams’ that uses the word ‘sweet’ to

describe the type of dream. The associative meaning to the word ‘sweet’ gives meaning to the

abstract concept of ‘dream’ and implies that it is a good dream.

The most prevalent metaphor in this text is ontological metaphor with a frequency of

15 metaphors identified. It is interesting to note that among the ontological metaphors, there

are 9 metaphors that are related to personification of inanimate objects such as frown, windows,

fingers, snow, Claus and puzzler. These inanimate objects are then given ‘life’ and character

through the addition of adjectives such as Grinch, Grinchy, quiet and sore. There are 2 abstract

concepts which are ‘trick’ and ‘quick’. Even these two can give animate meaning due to the

adjectives attached to them. ‘Grinchy trick’ gives the idea that it is not only a trick but a very

foul and evil one. Being quick “as a flash” adds more meaning implying that he was like a flash.

There is one metaphor relating to a day or celebration, ‘Christmas is coming’ not meaning that
Christmas is now coming towards the Grinch but that the day of Christmas is here. Another

metaphor is the phrase ‘he slithered and slunk’ that instead of giving life and character to an

inanimate object, this metaphor was used to add certain characteristics to him, connoting to his

character because the description of ‘slithering and slunking’ seems to suggest the

characteristics of a snake. It does not contain positive implied meaning. Lastly, there were four

metaphors on sounds. The sound ‘rising’, feeling ‘sad’ or ‘merry’ is also personification of the

word ‘sound’ that was added further meaning. These words suggests that sound is able to move

and feel something.

Based on the discussion, it can be deduced that ontological metaphors are used more

frequently due to the fact that it can help create a mental picture in the minds of children while

the metaphors used to give them these images are simple everyday words so that it is

understandable. Orientational and conduit metaphor are not used often because it is much

complex and it requires a higher degree of understanding of the concepts. The ones used in the

text is also simple and it can be viewed as an introduction to the readers which in this case are

the children as to more metaphors. Structural metaphors are also quite frequently found in

children’s literature because it is also simpler as it is applying one thing into another.

Ontological metaphors are found most in this story. It is possible to say that ontological

metaphors are used the most because it is able to describe one thing using another and this aids

with the child’s learning. It is also probable to add that personification, which is a type of

ontological metaphor, is more commonly used in children’s literature especially in Dr Seuss’

work because it can range from general categories that covers a wide range of metaphors and

it can pick out different ways of looking at a person that can cater to different people’s

perspective.
 Conclusion

Metaphors are used every day in our lives whether we choose to use them or not. It is

often a very unconscious act of expressing an idea. The presence of metaphors in children’s

literature however could be deliberately place to assist the child in learning and expanding their

cognitive development. In Dr Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, it can be said that the

many metaphors used does expands the meaning of the words and gives live to the story and

its characters, making reading enjoyable to a kid and also at the same time teaching them to

think.

References

Aristotle. (1946). De poetica. London: Oxford University Press.

Biography.com. (n.d.). Dr. Seuss Biography. Retrieved from The biography.com:
http://www.biography.com/people/dr-seuss-9479638
Geary, J. (2011). I is an other: the secret life of metaphor and how it shapes the way we see
the world. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
Goodman, N. (1969). Language of art. London: Oxford University Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by. London: The University of Chicago
Press.
Tehseem, T., & Khan, A. B. (2015). Exploring the use of metaphors in children literature: a
discursive perspective. European Journal of English Language, Linguistics and
Literature, 7-17.
Winner, E. (1999). Uncommon talents: gifted children, prodigies, and savants. Scientific
american presents: exploring intelligence, 2:2, 32-37.