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That holding us in place is simple
fear of what’s already change.
Bad past experience Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English
When I was one half of two
Alone Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English
B. Interpretation of Metaphors
1. Metaphor in “Brave”
Brave tells about a person who is encouraging the outcasts to speak up about their minds or perception. It is proved with the phrase contained in the song. The
line “Say, what you wanna say, and let the words fall out” is one of the way the author encouraged the audience. This song contains 4 metaphors. The metaphor are
written in italic bold. The table in each discussion of the metaphors is the conclusion in the end of the discussion. Here are the following metaphor and the discussion
about the meaning of the metaphor: a.
“You can turn phrase into weapon or drug”
A metaphor is defined way of comparing two things which are unlike but they share similar characteristic Perrine, 1969: 65. In this line, the author used
‘weapon’ and ‘drug’ to represent the message. The use of word is very specific. In lexical semantic which means meaning in literal by dictionary, weapon is used to
attack the enemy. Weapon could be anything made of metal like knife and gun, or it can be invisible like words. Words are like them, the attack can caused pain for
someone. In this song, along with the weapon there is also drug. Drug can be good PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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and bad in one condition as well. Drug can be healing someone in good way. In the bad way, drug can also kill someone by the wrong use of its drug.
Those metaphor are used for giving the result how word can cause something to someone. The word drug has two results which are healing and killing.
In this song the word drug refers to the meaning of healing. The reason is because the word ‘or’ in the middle of the weapon and drug. According to Longman
Dictionary , the word ‘or’ is used between two words or phrases to show that either
of two things is possible. The possibilities of the result of the words that someone has been spoken are good or bad. Weapon
is as the cause of the ‘word’ that can harm or attack someone and make someone hurts. Weapon is the bad cause of the
word. Unlike weapon, drug in here is supposed to heal. In this lyric, weapon and
drug are in contrast, which mean they have different significant meaning In this song, the weapon is aimed to insult someone. The word is the thing
that is used by someone to insult other people. It caused bad result as the weapon can cause in literal meaning. In different case drug is aimed to heal someone by
advice or tips for someone to encourage someone. i.
Table 4.8. Lexical Semantics of the Word Weapon and Drug
Lexical Semantic Signifier
Weapon Signified
a thing to attack someone PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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ii. Metaphor
Weapon a thing to attack such as gun or knife
A word that is aimed to insult a person Drug
a thing to heal A word that is aimed to encourage and advice someone
b.
“Bow down to the mighty”
The metaphorical expression of “bow down to the mighty” is classified as dead metaphor which means everyone who hear this metaphorical expression will
know the meaning of this. “Bow” in literal meanings means bend the body to
respect or greet someone. According to Longman Dictionary, “bow” means to bend
the top part of your body forward in order to show respect for someone important, or as a way of thanking. In this song,
“bow” is followed by “down” that gives another meaning in literal as well. According to same dictionary,
“bow down” is a dead metaphor or often called as idiom which means to let someone give you orders
or tell you what to do. In the context of the song,
“bow down” is followed by “the mighty” which shows that someone has to obey the orders of someone who is more powerful. In
society this thing always happens because usually society is ruled by someone. If the word “bow down” are separated, they would have different meaning. In the
Lexical Semantic Signifier
Drug Signified
A thing to heal someone PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
