Multiple blending
While we have for the most part assumed that integration networks consist of four spaces (generic space, two input spaces and the blend), it is common, and indeed the norm, for blends to function as inputs for further blending and reblending. We illustrate this point in this brief section with a discussion of Fauconnier and Turner’s (2002) example of the GRIM REAPER blend.
The Grim Reaper
This is a highly conventional cultural blend, in which DEATH is personified as the GRIM REAPER. This blend derives from an integration network consisting of three inputs, one of which is itself a blend consisting of two prior inputs. The Grim Reaper, as depicted in iconography since medieval times, is represented as a hooded skeleton holding a scythe.
Consider the three inputs to the GRIM REAPER blend. These relate to three AGENTS: (1) a REAPER, who uses a scythe to cut down plants; (2) a KILLER, who murders a victim; and (3) DEATH, which brings about the death of an individual. Observe that the third AGENT is non-human: DEATH is an abstract AGENT. In other words, DEATH-AS-AGENT is itself a metaphoric blend, in which DEATH and AGENCY (human animacy and volition) have been blended, giving rise to the personification of death. In the GRIM REAPER blend, the AGENT is DEATH and this agent causes death by KILLING. The manner of killing is REAPING (the use of the scythe). The reaper is GRIM because death is the outcome of his reaping. This complex blend is illustrated in Figure 12.13.
Observe that the physical appearance of the Grim Reaper metonymically represents each of the three main inputs to the blend. The skeleton stands for DEATH, which is the outcome; the hood that hides the reaper’s face represents the concealment that often characterises KILLERS; and the scythe stands for the manner of killing, deriving from the REAPER input. Finally, the Grim Reaper emerges from the blend rather than from any of the input spaces.
