ABSTRACT
The present study of metaphor and irony in The Autobiography of Malcolm X is inspired by previous research that recognizes the potential for multiple and sometimes conflicting meanings of a single autobiographical text (Bruner; Smith and Watson). In my analysis, I assume a cognitive-functional approach to text analysis that foregrounds the creative potential of metaphor and irony in everyday discourse. In particular, instances of metaphor and irony from Malcolm X’s autobiography are analyzed as structured complexes of meaning that motivate polysemous readings of a single text, some of which convey a straightforward, as well as a subversive or ironic, meaning. Also relevant to the present study is the discourse construct of resonance, defined as a structured set of affinities between two different discourse contexts whereby an expression in the first context is reinterpreted or reevaluated in a second discourse setting (Du Bois 2010, 2014). Through the process of resonance, expressions and meanings from official or mainstream accounts are reinterpreted from the perspective of the narrating subject’s current experience, giving rise to sets of polysemous or oppositional meanings. In this way, The Autobiography of Malcolm X surpasses the limits of everyday discourse with the creative potential of metaphorical expression and so constructs a deeply moving life story firmly grounded in the narrator’s experience of both oppression and transcendence.
