Blog #2

In Michael Erard’s essay, “See Through Words”, he discusses how metaphors can be designed in order to affect us in a specific way. Erard describes how he shapes and tests a variety of different metaphors in order to help people “understand the unfamiliar” (para. 2). He is able to create metaphors that place the unknown in a familiar context, allowing one to not only build a whole new perspective but to deepen one’s knowledge on specific topics. Metaphors enable us to view something from various angles.

Within “See Through Words”, Erard makes an insightful point that it seems like “we grasp metaphors more readily when at least one of the concepts is very familiar” (para. 11). While reading through this, I realized that the metaphors I use in my life, such as “life is a road”, I did not think of by myself, rather I have seen it before and applied it to my life. This connects to Verlyn Klinkenborg’s essay “Several Short Sentences About Writing”. In this essay, Klinkenborg discusses how we tend to follow and notice what everyone else is and never take a risk to deem something important for ourselves. And this is true with metaphors. In order to truly create a metaphor that is applicable to us, we have to use our own experiences and place them into context, not someone else’s. Another point that stood out to me is when Erard mentions that when creating metaphors, one has to use points that people are willing to use (para. 23). A metaphor can not be effective if the terms used to describe specific circumstances are not applicable to the beliefs of the people it is addressed to. It is vital that a metaphor uses language that applies to the common way of thinking to the group it is meant to address.