Metonymy in BL
There’s a Gothic literary trope (in the original sense of the word trope) purportedly originating in the 18th century European romantics, called
metonymy
“Metonymy is a subtype of metaphor, in which something (like rain) is used to stand for (or model/represent) something else (like sorrow).”
These days it’s less common in genre books than it is in the film industry, which loves to use metonymy as a shorthand, for example:
the dark grittiness of noir settings reflecting the personality of the main detective character (see Blade Runner),
or the way a messy room reflects an unstable emotional state (see Cherry Magic)
or the way it often rains during scenes of parting (The Untamed) or at a funeral.
or the sunrise in the background at the dawn of new love or beginning fo a new relationship stage (ITSAY)
similarly sunset when a relationship is coming to and end or coming to its ultimate conclusion
In other words, when someone is sad, the setting reflects this with rain. When someone is happy, with sunshine. And so forth.
A classic example is “The Fall of the House of Usher" a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, in which the titular house is cracking and crumbling down, moldy and decayed, because of the moral turpitude of the house’s owner. This is also a foreshadow of the horrors that are about to unfold.
In BL metonymy is used a lot.
1000 Stars
Oxygen
Why R U?
Here’s a post about my...
Favorite Uses of Metonymy In BL
(source)