The Literary Mind.pdf

34 THE LITERARY MIND
physical object, or moving near to it so as to reach for it, is a body action accessory
to grasping it and therefore to controlling it. These are some of the earliest
spatial stories learned by a child. In them, the child is the actor. Grasping a physical
object so as to control it often seems to be the central story of the infant
imagination.
It is common to project action-stories of grasping and controlling physical
objects onto other event-stories. Conditions we control and enjoy correspond
parabolically to physical objects we grasp, possess, and control. We can say of
someone that he has a wonderful office when in fact it is owned legally by his
employer; that an opportunity was handed to him on a platter; that he is having a
good time; that he grabbed the chance; that he holds a good job.
Within the logic of objects and grasping, something reliably within our grasp
is subject to our control. When we project an action-story of grasping, we project
this logic. Thus we can say of an elected official that he to his voting district in
his hip pocket, implying that he controls it. An object that we almost grasp is
almost under our control. We project this inference, and so can say of a job
candidate that he has one hand on the job but has not yet got it.
If something is near enough to us to be grasped and we have not yet grasped
it but see no obstruction to doing so, then we are close to controlling it but do
not yet control it. Projecting this logic, we can say of a thinker that the solution
to the problem he is working on is easily within his reach. We know that a lost or
discarded physical object was once in our grasp or reliably within our grasp but
is no longer; we controlled it but now do not. Thus we can say that someone lost
his job or threw away an opportunity. Something we give away is no longer under
our control, so we can say that someone gave up the chairmanship. Something
that is taken away is no longer under our control, so we can say that someone's
job was taken away.
If we grip an object or otherwise make it impossible for someone else to grasp
and manipulate the object, then we prevent anyone else from controlling it. Thus
we can say that someone has a firm grip on first place or that her grip on the seat
in the Senate cannot be broken or that she has the championship all locked up or
that he has a lock on her affections.
In all of these cases, the spatial body action of grasping is projected onto
situations that are not principally bodily or spatial. Projecting the actor from
the source story personifies something in the target story. Suppose we map the
body action of faking away onto the event-story of becoming unemployed. Then
the state of being employed corresponds to a physical object. Enjoying that state
corresponds to having the physical object in our grasp. Ceasing to enjoy that
state corresponds to having the physical object removed from our grasp. Something
causally related to this change of state can be personified as the actor of