MAPPING CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN MASOOD’S THE BAD MUSLIM DISCOUNT(2021)

Abstract

This study explores the role of conceptual metaphors in constructing cognitive and cultural worldviews in The Bad Muslim Discount(2021). Drawing upon George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory (1980), the study investigates how metaphorical expressions shape representations of religion, gender, identity, honor, politics, modernity, and migration in the novel. Using a qualitative textual analysis, metaphorical expressions were identified, categorized into source and target domains, and interpreted within their socio-cultural contexts. The findings reveal that the novel conceptualizes control as confinement, religion as exchange, honor as physical force, identity as clothing, politics as volatility, and memory as sensory experience. These metaphors construct a cognitive framework through which characters understand reality while simultaneously reflecting broader cultural ideologies and power structures. The study contributes to cognitive literary studies by demonstrating how conceptual metaphors encode cultural values and social beliefs in contemporary Muslim diasporic fiction.