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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
Key Examples in Bernice Bobs Her Hair
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Yellow Windows:
In the story’s first paragraph, Fitzgerald uses visual imagery to depict the setting outside the posh country club that Bernice and her “friends” are partying in:
AFTER DARK on Saturday night one could stand on the first tee of the golf-course and see the country-club windows as a yellow expanse over a very black and wavy ocean. The waves of this ocean, so to speak, were the heads of many curious caddies, a few of the more ingenious chauffeurs, the golf professional’s deaf sister—[...]
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Explanation and Analysis—Hunted Partridge:
In this passage, which follows a description of society ladies judging the prospects of all the young women at the country-club party, Fitzgerald uses metaphor and satire to comment on the social dynamics of marriage-making parties:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] every young man with a large income leads the life of a hunted partridge.
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Part 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Terror:
As Bernice approaches the barbershop where her hair is to be cut, Fitzgerald employs metaphors and allusions to the French Revolution to heighten the dramatic tension:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] Sevier Barber-Shop. It was a guillotine indeed, and the hangman was the first barber, who, attired in a white coat and smoking a cigarette, leaned nonchalantly against the first chair. He must have heard of her; he must have been waiting all week, smoking eternal cigarettes beside that portentous, too-often-mentioned first chair. Would they blind-fold her? No, but they would tie a white cloth round her neck lest any of her blood—nonsense—hair—should get on her clothes.
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