As George
Lakoff explains in his "Why It's Difficult to Replace the Fiscal Cliff ," geographic
metaphors are among the most powerful, anduses these abundantly in "." For example, he
employs the metaphors of the slippery slope and the yawning abyss to make abstract concepts such
as sin and hell vividly real to people. We can all create a visual and tactile image in our
minds of sliding down a slope and imagine what it would feel like (painful) to fall into an
abyss. Further, this abyss is filled with fire, a physical metaphor for the pain of remorse a
sinner experiences in hell. The pain of remorse might be abstract to people; the pain of being
burned by fire would not. Edwards uses as well the physical metaphor of humans walking over hell
on a rotten covering. This would bring to mind the idea of walking on a bridge made of rotten
wood that could collapse at any time, though in Edwards' telling of the story, people would
plunge not into cold water but into fiery brimstone. These powerful images, along with everyday
images that would be familiar to a rural society, such as worms crushed underfoot and chaff
blowing in the wind, powerfully impress on people's minds their own precarious, weak and
helpless situation before hell and the devil, and the need to be saved by
Christ.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
What are some examples of metaphors throughout "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"?
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