Role of Metaphors in Controlling Meaning Making Processes: ‘War’ and ‘Fire’ Metaphor for COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Purpose: In recent times, development of languages has endorsed complexities and has advanced the communicative strategies. This present research has studied the role of ‘war’ and ‘fire’ metaphors for COVID-19 pandemic in influencing thinking pattern of people to analyze the differences in the meaning attached to the concepts of metaphors. Methodology: Open ended questionnaires were designed in qualitative research method and responses were encoded to generate the emerging patterns of meanings. Findings: The results have shown the contrasting features of the meaning making sense of people in accordance with the metaphors and it further gave way to analyze the conscious impact of usage of metaphors by higher authorities in molding public’s thought according to their own interest. Fire metaphor has enraged the feeling of suffocation and fast rate of transmission of this pandemic while ‘war’ metaphor has raised the meaning of killing of people and people has assumed this pandemic as an enemy which has turned this world into a battlefield. Conclusion: Figurative and non-figurative languages elicited different responses.  Non-figurative language did not instigated any kind of fear among the participants. Recommendation: Future studies can be conducted to scrutinize the ideological use of metaphors by the politicians which insinuate audience in one way or another.