The Study Of Conceptual Metaphors In The Feminist Context Of The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

The interest in cognitive approaches to literature which include the development of methodologies for describing both the production and reception of literary texts has increased in the past few years. In proposing the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in their book, Metaphors We Live By (1980), assert that conceptual metaphors help us comprehend abstract concepts in terms of more concrete ones. This research has tried to answer these questions that if the use of conceptual metaphor in Colson whitehead’s The Underground Railroad (2016) could contribute to the effectiveness of whitehead’s writing in describing the indescribable phenomena, such as horrors of slavery, racism and especially double oppression on black women? And is it possible to find main metaphors in the conceptual realm of freedom and suffering of slavery which give coherence to other sub-metaphors of the text? From the point of view of feminist criticism, it can be said that in this work, female protagonist of the story, Cora, experiences different abstract concepts in each stage of her train journey such as the sufferings of separation from mother, hard working without wages, rape, whipping, and sterilization. By using the title of the Underground Railroad as metaphor writer sends Cora toward a freedom which is unattainable. In this study, conceptual analytical method has been used.