Journal of Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies

Journal of Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies

Critical Analysis of the Metaphorical and Metonymic Poles of Language and the dichotomy between Culture and Nature in the Young Adult Novel The Seventh Western Floor

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Shirzad Tayefi 1
Fatemeh Jafari 2
1 Professor, Persian Language and iterature, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran. Corresponding Author)
2 Ph.D. Student of Persian Language and Literature, Allameh Tabatabaʼi University, Tehran, Iran.
10.22075/jlrs.2025.39303.2767
Abstract
Ecocritical reading examines how ecocentric themes are cultivated within literary works. One way of developing these themes is through the use of metaphor and metonymy, with one of the two axes of selection and combination dominating the other. It is of prime importance to convey ecocentric themes to adolescents through literature, and critical readings of young adult novels can have a meaningful impact on the creation of more and better ecocentric works for young adult readers. This study employs a qualitative analytical method to explore the nature-culture nexus in the young adult novel, The Seventh Western Floor, from a rhetorical/ecocritical perspective. Specifically, the study analyzes how the author manipulates the linguistic axes so that the metaphorical pole comes to dominate, reshaping -culture-nature nexus as well as the dichotomy between innocence and experience. The findings of this analysis reveal that the narrative positions an elderly character representing culture, experience, and metaphorical language against a young protagonist who embodies nature, innocence, and metonymical language. This opposition produces a form of aphasia marked by the dominance of the metaphorical pole-a process that ultimately links culture and nature and results in a systematic return to childhood and nature.
Keywords
ecocriticism
vertical axis
horizontal axis
culture and nature
innocence and experience
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Journal of Linguistic and Rhetorical Studies
Volume 17, Issue 44
In progress
Summer 2026