And the writer knows rotten itself means decayed and cannot be eaten. In other words, something rotten is not in good condition. So, it can be concluded that the
author describes the Christmas, life and the person are bed term.
2. Live Metaphor
Other kind of metaphor is live metaphor. Life metaphor is a figurative of comparison that said that one thing is other thing. Here the writer still catches and
determines the lexical meaning from its used connotation. And there are many figures of speech found in “The Ghost” belong to live metaphor. The examples of
live metaphor are described in this table:
Table 2 : Live Metaphor
NO. DATA
TYPE PAGE
1. They had lives of their own. They were
planets in separate orbits. Live Metaphor 9
2. I was just a robot, a machine, a
lawyer… Live Metaphor 313
Data 4 of Live Metaphor They were planets in separate orbits. p.9
Metaphor shown in figure of speech 4 above is based on two propositions. 4.
They were …. 5.
Planets were …. From the data 4 speech above, the topic of the metaphor they, in this case
Charlie and Carole, is being compared with planets as the image. But there is no point of similarity expressed that shows the comparison between them. The writer
is expected to guess what is the similarity between them. Another live metaphor is analyzed below.
Data 5 of Live Metaphor I was just a robot, a machine…p.313
In data 5 above, the metaphor I was just a robot, a machine is based on two comparisons. First, I was just a robot and second, I was just a machine. And
each comparison is based on two propositions without any point of similarity expressed.
The propositions of I was just a robot: 1
I was … 2
A robot was … The propositions of I was just a machine:
1 I was …
2 A machine was …
From the propositions above, there is one topic, two images and no point of similarity. I, in this case Carole, as the topic, is being compared point of
similarity expressed that shows the comparison between them. The writer is expected to guess what is the similarity between them. Another live metaphor is
analyzed below. Data 5 of Live Metaphor
I was just a robot, a machine… p.313 In data 5 above, the metaphor I was just a robot, a machine is based on
two comparisons. First, I was just a robot and second, I was just a machine. And
each comparison is based on two propositions without any point of similarity expressed.
The propositions of I was just a robot: 1
I was … 2
A robot … The propositions of I was just a machine:
1 I was …
2 A machine was …
From the propositions above, there is one topic, two images and no point of similarity. I, in this Carole, as the topic, is being compared with a robot and a
machine as the image of metaphor. However, the readers do not know how come they are being compared with no point of similarity expressed in a metaphor. But,
if the writer looked up into dictionary there is a similarity between a robot and a machine, that they are works automatically. So, the words works automatically
may be the point of similarity between I, a robot, and a machine. Since, the point of similarity is left implicit the metaphor is classified as live one.
B. The Data Analysis
