Writing Focus: Synecdoche

Synecdoche is all around us in everyday life, from the phrases and pieces of literature that we use and read right down to the way that things are worded on the breaking news stories that many of us tune into. Aside from being a word that can be incredibly difficult to spell and pronounce, synecdoche is a part of our lingual makeup and can also be used within writing!

What Is Synecdoche?

Synecdoche is characterised as a phrase or word that either refers to the whole of something by using a part of that something, or the other way around. In other words, it’s using a word to represent something as a whole, or using a word that represents a lot, but is only used to describe a part of that something. These are known as synecdoche microcosms (using a small part to refer to a whole) and synecdoche macrocosms (using a whole to refer to a small part).

An example of a synecdoche microcosm is the phrase ‘lend me your ears’. Looked at literally, this phrase suggests that the person asking only needs your ears. However, it is a phrase that requests that the recipient listen to the person speaking, which requires more than just the ears. These phrases can often lead to a more colloquial tone and can also be used to show personality and nationality of the characters as they often have links to specific countries and ways of speaking.

Macrocosms in synecdoche are more common, and can be seen every day through political decisions. A famous example of a microcosm would be an announcement that “the White House has decided” on a certain matter. The White House itself, being a building, cannot decide on important political matters. However, the people involved can, and referring to these people as a collective using one small part of their collective — in this case, the building most famously associated with US politics — allows for quick and easy identification of the whole.

Tips

As mentioned above, use of synecdoche can be a clever and subtle way of showing the audience where the story is set. For instance, instead of simply having any government announcements come from the ‘government’, substitute the majority for the most commonly accepted synecdochical phrase in that country — for the US, it would be the White House, the UK would be Number 10 or Downing Street, Russia would be the Kremlin and so on and so forth.

If you’re going to be writing within a specific country, be sure to look up the common synecdochical phrases that they would use! Again, it’s a perfectly subtle way of creating an atmosphere of a certain country without mentioning where it’s based. It also gives the added bonus of making your characters look more realistic, and will give them the feel that they are dynamic and rounded, as opposed to using more robotic pieces of dialogue for them.

Prompts

Looking to use synecdoche in your own writing? Why not try out these prompts designed to help you out.

1. Write a story based in a country other than your own. Do not mention the country name or demonym throughout the piece at all. Instead, use synecdochical phrases to establish the setting subtly.
2. Take one example of synecdoche of your own choosing. Write a story about what happens when somebody takes this phrase quite literally. For example, you could have somebody literally taking the meaning of ‘lending a hand’ as actually loaning a person their hand.

Although synecdoche makes up a very small part of the literary device world, it is an incredibly good tool to have under your belt! Creating subtlety and more realism will help bring up the quality of your writing endlessly.

Special thanks to losing control. and cleopatra. for editing!