Conceptual Metaphor of [FEAR] in Literary Work: A Case Study of the Short Story Entitled ‘/sa.ŋòp ŋōŋ nāj dōŋ ŋūu/’ (Confused Calmness in Snakes’ Wilderness)

Abstract

This research article aims to analyze the conceptual metaphor of [FEAR] in the short story named ‘/sa.ŋòp ŋōŋ nāj dōŋ ŋūu/’ (Confused Calmness in Snakes’ Wilderness) by means of the theory of conceptual metaphor in cognitive linguistics, which can be applied to analyze linguist ic forms and features in both ordinary and creative language expressing human beings’ experience. The findings were that the conceptual metaphors of [FEAR] could be divided into 14 categories: 1) [FEAR IS DENSE FOREST] 2) [FEAR IS
LEAF FALL] 3) [FEAR IS UGLINESS] 4) [FEAR IS ELECTION] 5) [FEAR IS CONTROL] 6) [FEAR IS DISEASE] 7) [FEAR IS ROPE] 8) [FEAR IS DEATH] 9) [FEAR IS ORGAN] 10) [FEAR IS OBJECT] 11) [FEAR IS SOUL] 12) [FEAR
IS VENOM] 13) [FEAR IS HUMAN], and 14) [FEAR IS SNAKE]. The effects of the use of conceptual metaphor show that the characters (human beings) have a wide variety of fears emerging from diverse worldviews. These conceptualizations, therefore, reflect the thought processes of comparison in the actual language used in a work in the literary genre the short story and make it possible to adequately see the relationships among the dimensions of language, thought, and text. That is to say, the text is a space for presenting
events related to human activity involving the exercise of power among members of one society, which is a community in the process of electing a leader and thus shows the workings of local politics. Still, conflicts bring about competition which appears in the language of campaigning and conversational interchanges in which thoughts involving comparisons are communicated to lend support or launch attacks, and these appear in the form of conceptual metaphors, which, in the main character, evoke fear more than courage in the election battlefield and provide a true mirror of human life.