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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Fate Comes Walking:
As the black Cadillac carries the Boss out of Mason City in Chapter 1, Jack has a flashback to 1922, when he first met Willie. The scene takes place in Slade's, an illegal bar in Mason City that was often the site of political dealings. Jack, already in the bar's dark back room, sees Willie come in and already knows that their futures will intertwine:
Fate comes walking through the door, and it is five feet eleven inches tall and heavyish in the chest and shortish in the leg and is wearing a seven-fifty seersucker suit which is too long in the pants so the cuffs crumple down over the high black shoes, which could do with a polishing, and a stiff high collar like a Sunday-school superintendent [...]. It just comes in like that, and how are you to know?
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Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Political Anemia:
Willie is slow to realize, in Chapter 2, that his candidacy for governor in 1926 is a setup by the Democratic Party. Willie still gives his speeches boldly and earnestly, but he doesn't understand that he was set up to run as a joke, set up by MacMurfee to foil Harrison. At this point in the campaign, Louisianans have started to lose interest in Willie's message, but he doesn't see the reason. Jack describes the still-vital Willie through simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+If a man ever had a right to look worried, it was Willie. But he didn't. He just looked like a man in a kind of waking dream, and when he walked out on the platform before he began talking his face looked purified and lifted up and serene like the face of a man who has just pulled out of a hard sickness. But he hadn't pulled out of the sickness he had. He had galloping political anemia.
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Explanation and Analysis—On the Ropes:
As he campaigns for governor in 1926, during Chapter 2, Willie gives a speech in Upton, a fictional town "in the western part of the state." The night before the speech, Willie drank a whole bottle of whiskey, his first time drinking in his life, and passed out on Jack's bed. Needless to say, Willie is now quite hungover, and Jack has attempted to cure him by giving him yet more to drink. Jack and Sadie watch with trepidation as Willie, "sweating and swaying and speechless, in the hot sun," attempts to begin his speech:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"He's on the ropes," Sadie said.
"Hell, he's been on 'em all morning," I said, "and lucky to have 'em."
She was still looking at him. It was much the same way she had looked at him the night before when he lay on the bed in my room, out cold, and she stood by the side of the bed. It wasn't pity and it wasn't contempt. It was an ambiguous, speculative look. Then she said, "Maybe he was born on 'em."
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Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Bull Whip:
Visiting Willie at his office in the capital in Chapter 3, Jack finds the Boss telling off a disobedient government official. Jack uses a violent metaphor to describe how Willie keeps other politicians in line:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I saw the Boss in shirt sleeves, [...] a forefinger in the air in front of him as though it were the stock of a bull whip. Then I saw what the snapper of the bull whip would have been flicking the flies off of if that forefinger of the boss had been the stock of a bull whip: it was Mr. Byram B. White, State Auditor, and his long bony paraffin-colored face was oozing a few painful drops of moisture and his eyes reached out and grabbed me like the last hope.
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Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Deep Mud:
After Willie learned that Judge Irwin, a powerful political figure, endorsed the Democratic primary challenger in the Senate election, the Boss enlists Jack to find dirt on Irwin. Jack's early attempts involve asking many different people whether Irwin had ever been broke, hoping to find evidence of bribery or other corrupt dealings. Visiting the Stanton home in Chapter 5, Jack asks Anne about Irwin, and the two have an argument, as Anne doesn't approve of Jack trying to dig up dirt on such a respected figure. Then, Adam enters cheerfully and, typically, doesn't notice that a shouting argument has just taken place. Aiming to avoid another argument, Jack springs his question on him:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"Look here," I said quick, "way back yonder, any time, was Judge Irwin ever broke? Bad broke?"
"Why, no—I don't know—" he began, his face shading.
Anne swung around to look at him, then sharply at me. I thought for an instant she was about to say something. But she didn't.
"Why, yes!" Adam said, standing there, still hugging the parcels.
I had speared it up from the deep mud.
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Explanation and Analysis—Dumb-Waiter:
Much of the novel is concerned with Jack looking for dirt on Judge Irwin. In Chapter 5, Jack uses a metaphor to describe how he seeks information from the Stantons:
Unlock with LitCharts A+When you are looking for the lost will in the old mansion, you tap, inch by inch, along the beautiful mahogany wainscoting, or along the massive stonework of the cellarage, and listen for the hollow sound. Then upon hearing it, you seek the secret button or insert the crowbar. I had tapped and had heard something hollow. "But, oh, no," Anne Stanton had said, "there is no secret hiding place there, that is just where the dumb-waiter goes."
But I tapped again. Just to listen to that hollow sound, even if it were just the place where the dumb-waiter went.
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Explanation and Analysis—Delicate Little Root:
In Chapter 5, Jack researches the Irwin case and digs deep into the judge's past. Slowly, he starts to figure out the story of the bribe that got Irwin hired by the American Electric Power Company: "I was not prepared to say that I knew what God and man are, but I was getting ready to make a shrewd guess about a particular man. But just a guess." Jack describes his findings using a delicate metaphor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I plucked the flower out of its cranny and discovered an astonishing botanical fact. I discovered that its delicate little root, with many loops and kinks, ran all the way to New York City, where it tapped the lush dung heap called the Madison Corporation. The flower in the cranny was the Southern Belle Fuel Company. So I plucked another little flower called the American Electric Power Company, and discovered that its little delicate root tapped the same dung heap.
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Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—The Flyswatter:
In Chapter 6, Tiny tries for the umpteenth time to convince Willie to build the new hospital, his political pet project, on a crooked contract with Gummy Larson. After Willie rebuts Tiny yet again, Willie and Jack discuss greedy politicians in the Boss's office:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"Christ," [Willie] said, almost pettishly, "can't he understand I don't want him messing round with this thing?" And he shoved at the blueprints again.
"What do you expect?" I asked. "There's six million dollars involved. Did you ever see the flies stay away from the churn at churning time?"
"He better stay away from this churn."
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