Figurative Language Versus Literal Language

¶ … Literal Language

In literature, authors have a plethora of literary devices which they can use to interest the reader and make their words more powerful. These tools provide the author with the ability to convey far more than they might have been able to without it. Unfortunately, this abundance of potential literary tools available can, in less skilled hands, make comprehensibility of written language very difficult. One of the most frequent offenses in literature is an author's confusion between figurative and literal language. In order to prevent such errors, it is best to become better acquainted with the terms of literary usage and then they can be used in their proper context.

An idiom is an expression has a meaning separate from the definitions of the actual words that are used. Idioms are cultural expressions which will usually not translate outside of their cultural context (Bradshaw 2012). Some idioms are specific to the community in which they are used and will not be discernible outside of the region. Examples of idioms include the phrase "raining cats and dogs." Of course the sky is not actually releasing animals, but drops of water.

An analogy is a comparison to two things wherein the connection between two objects in one context can be taken and used to compare in another set of circumstances. In literary terms, analogy can be used to compare characters or plot devices to real world situation. A perfect example is if someone is a duplicitous or dishonest employee. When a supervisor asks your opinion of this individual and you say, "He is as honest an employee as Richard Nixon was a President of the United States." Nixon was, of course, one of the most underhanded and deceitful men to ever hold the office and resigned the office before he was impeached for his criminal actions. By saying an employee has the same level of integrity; you are making an analogy that is decidedly not in his favor.

Metaphor is a comparison wherein one item is defined as another. The classic example is the expression, "men are pigs." This phrase is most often used when describing a particularly masculine male who minimizes and marginalizes women. They are thus compared to animals, and the lowest order of animals at that, making a simple statement that men who hold those archaic ideas are no better than farm animals, as if they had never evolved.

Similes are similar ideas to metaphor in that two distinctly different things are compared. However, in a simile it is required that the words "like" or "as" be used in making the comparison. Often literature will use similes in order to compare everything from personality to weather. In the classic fairy tale "Snow White," the eponymous character is famously described as having "lips as red as blood, hair as black as ebony, and skin as white as snow." Each characteristic of the character is compared to something that shares the color. It serves to impress upon the reader the exact shade that is described in the young woman's physical appearance. It is a far more specific image than if it was just said that she had red lips, black hair, and white skin.

Most authors are asked to avoid cliches because the reader has read them so many times before and have become bored with them. These are the dreaded expressions which have been so overused that they no longer provide surprises for the reader (Sullivan 1947). Examples of cliches are "a dark and stormy night" a "wicked stepmother" or an "evil twin." These are contrivances which are boring, dull, and wholly unoriginal.

Amphiboly occurs when the grammatical structure of a sentence is too confusing and the meaning becomes ambiguous. Take for example the following sentence: "I didn't say she stole my money." The sentence varies with whichever word is the most stressed in the pronunciation. Therefore the meaning that the author intended is unlikely to be understood by the reader. In some situations the ambiguity is intentional because the author wants the reader to instill their own meaning into the text, as is often the case in poetry. However, more often than not the ambiguity is an unintentional result of poor writing.

Flame words are those which are placed in a sentence in order to inflame the reader, often with the intention of adding emphasis or emotion. For example, if a character decides that they are frustrated with another character, they have the option of saying, "I don't want to hear about your day." Adding the flame word "damn" changes the sentence to "I don't want to hear about your damn day." It adds emphasis and changes the tone from frustration to antagonism.

One of the more egregious errors in literature is the use of hyperbole. This is exaggeration which is used to create a strong impression and can sometimes have the secondary effect of undermining the veracity of the writing. Take for example the character Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. This man is an exaggeration because he is meant to represent the stingiest most frugal kind of man. However, if a man say spends $50 on a new suit instead of $100 and the writer states that he is the cheapest man who ever lived, that is hyperbolic. Surely this man is not as penny-pinching as the aforementioned Scrooge. Following this error, nothing the author says can be taken at its word.