Jake Kestly

Comm Crit. Metaphor Analysis

4/15/15

In 2007, musician Kanye West released his third album,

Graduation. If his first two albums represented his breakthrough in
finding himself away from a cultural norm, and the second was being a
non-conformist within the industry, then Graduation was himself
departing away from the trilogy and also coming full circle with himself
as a person. As Wests first three records are metaphors in themselves,
there is one song in particular on Graduation that is one long extended
metaphor entitled Homecoming featuring Coldplays lead vocalist,
Chris Martin. For this song, the tenor will be examined with the vehicles
that Kanye uses to talk about that tenor. The idea to be examined is
how metaphors are used with larger audiences as a tool to help the
speaker connect with the audience in a more organic, real way to get
the senders point across.
The artifact begins with the chorus by Chris Martin. He exclaims,
Im coming home again. Do you think about me now and then? The
context of this is unclear but as soon as Kanye begins his first verse, it
seems at first that he is talking about a girl (I met this girl when I was
3 years old..). We are told her name is Windy, but it also sounds

similar to Wendy when listening to the audio. The rest of the verse
continues with this metaphor as Kanye expresses his fondness for this
girl with lines like And when I grew up she showed me how to go
downtown/At night time her face lit up, so astounding/I told her in my
heart is where she will always be but then proceeds to show that
Windy felt like she had been used and abused in past relationships with
other entertainers and didnt get any other guys because of the way
most other people perceived her on the outside. The chorus continues
after this verse and Kanye goes back into it speaking on how he left
this girl to follow his dreams. His ex-lover (Windy) also tells him of how
much a dad is missing in their lives and how they want to be just like
him. She feels as though Kanye had betrayed her and used her just like
everyone else. At the very last line of the second verse, West lets
everyone know of the metaphor he used and exclaims, If you dont
know by now, Im talking about Chi-town! Chris Martin then begins to
go into a break where he speaks of remembering fireworks on Lake
Michigan etc., and the song ends.
The method of criticism I am using to dissect this song is
Metaphor Criticism. In Metaphor Criticism, there are two terms--- tenors
and the vehicles. Tenors are the topics that are discussed opposed to
vehicles, which are the ways in which the tenor are decided to be
delivered. In this case, the tenor is how Kanye feels about his

hometown Chicago, where the vehicles would be him using a

relationship with an ex-lover to explain that main point.
In Homecoming it is noticed that the revealing of certain
keywords that dont necessarily mesh well with the ongoing metaphor
are slowly revealed in the song to make the audience member
question if he is in fact, talking about a relationship with a girl or not. It
begins with the chorus and a straightforward statement of how he met
this girl when he was younger. Right away, the listener would assume
that this is a song of Kanye revisiting an old relationship. He describes
it in the first verse and throws in words to describe this girl: gangaffiliated, cold (also key descriptors of what Chicago could be known
for, at least from a media standpoint), and also the line where she said
she dislikes entertainers. This is not a typical relationship story at this
point, and I believe West reveals the metaphor like this on purpose so
that the listener can slowly start listening to the narrative atypically as
it goes on until the reveal. It keeps the track interesting to listen to as
the relationship starts veering away from your stereotypical break up
song. In the second verse, he talks of how he departed from Chicago to
pursue his career as a musician, but there should be no hard feelings
because it was nothing personal. The girl, Windy, calls him and tells
West of his kids that he had with her--- which represents his perceived
cultural impact on the city. This is unclear until the very end when he
announces that he in fact, talking about Chicago and not a girl. After

listening to the full song and repeating it, it is easy to pick up on what
certain aspects of the relationship represents on more of a macro
scale. In the end, he talks about how in interviews he tries to make
her proud, struggles with returning home, and not being as well
received by the local media. The audience should be considered as to
why Kanye decided to deliver this in metaphor. At this time, West had a
fairly large fan base and on those terms, a relationship is something
that everyone can understand. It was a simple way for people to feel
and relate to until the reveal of it being about Chicago. It forces the
audience to feel and relate and then realize and convey in larger terms
of how he feels about his roots. He wanted his fanbase to know in
terms of a relationship that this was something that had to end but he
will always have that in him and will never forget where he comes
from. He wanted to let people know that he loves his city but to put it
on the map, he had to leave it because of all the negative media it gets
for being gang-affiliated and abandoned by other entertainers.
Homecoming was a way of saying that he did that and now he is
here for his city and wants to support it in every way that he can.
In summary, this is a large contribution to rhetorical theory in
that it shows a way of communicating to get an audience to connect
on a common ground and then once everyone is on board, explain your
main point. It shows a great way of connecting, and although this

method would fit best within a song and not a speech, a less extended
metaphor in a speech could perhaps function in this way as well.