<![CDATA[This study examines how conceptual metaphor functions as a discursive and stylistic resource in constructing meaning, affect, and aesthetic value in Sindhunata’s Anak Bajang Mengayun Bulan (ABMB). Using a qualitative interpretive design, the study analyzes selected textual excerpts in which metaphorical expressions are salient to the representation of natural, cosmic, spatial, emotional, and gendered experience. The excerpts were purposively selected based on their relevance to the study’s focus and their potential to reveal metaphorical mappings and their contextual functions. The unit of analysis is the metaphorical expression together with its immediate textual context, which is examined to identify the source–target domain mapping, its contextual meaning, and its pragmatic and stylistic function. The analysis proceeded in three stages: identifying metaphorical expressions, interpreting the cross-domain mappings they instantiate, and examining how these mappings shape evaluation, affect, and reader-oriented interpretation in context. The findings reveal five principal patterns: (1) the natural world is represented as an animate and harmonious system; (2) cosmic elements are associated with emotional transformation and aesthetic elevation; (3) silence and spatiality are constructed as sacred and transformative domains; (4) inner emotional experience is valued over external sensory perception as a more authentic form of experience; and (5) womanhood is metaphorically represented as an ecological landscape that reflects existential tension and crisis. These findings show that conceptual metaphor in ABMB operates beyond cognitive representation: it organizes perception, directs evaluation, and invites affective engagement, thereby contributing to the pragmatic and aesthetic construction of meaning in literary discourse.]]>
