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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 Cloud Atlas
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Faith:
Throughout Chapters 2 and 10, Robert Frobisher gradually reveals his underhanded nature to the reader. He is quick to betray the graciousness of his host, stealing valuable books from Vyvyan Ayrs’s library and sleeping with his mentor’s wife. Frobisher tends to presume that other people share his duplicitous nature, even God. Note the following example of metaphor from Chapter 2, in which Frobisher reveals this point of view:
People knelt in prayer, some moving their lips. Envy ’em, really I do. I envy God, too, privy to their secrets. Faith, the least exclusive club on Earth, has the craftiest doorman.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Ayrs:
In the following example of metaphor from Chapter 2, Robert contemplates what he believes to be Ayrs's vision of civilization:
Unlock with LitCharts A+To men like Ayrs, it occurs to me, this temple is civilization. The masses, slaves, peasants, and foot soldiers exist in the cracks of its flagstones, ignorant even of their ignorance. Not so the great statesmen, scientists, artists, and most of all, the composers of the age, any age, who are civilization’s architects, masons, and priests. Ayrs sees our role is to make civilization ever more resplendent.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Aide-de-Camp:
In the following example of metaphor from Chapter 2, Ayrs compares Robert to an "aide-de-camp," using military language to describe their working relationship:
Unlock with LitCharts A+V.A. puffed up like a smug hornyback. “I suppose I’ve won a rearguard action or two in my war against decrepitude. My boy Robert here is proving a valuable aide-de-camp.”
Aide-de-camp? I’m his bloody general and he’s the fat old Turk reigning on the memory of faded glories!
Related Themes:
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Vultures:
In Chapter 6, readers are introduced to a sixth and final narrator, Zachry Bailey. Zachry begins his narration by describing an unfortunate encounter with the Kona people. He accidentally leads these warriors back to his father and brother; his father is murdered, and Adam Bailey is taken hostage. During this entire debacle, Zachry does not intervene because he is afraid. Zachry comments later on his impulse to lie about this cowardly inaction, utilizing metaphor to describe dishonesty as one of “Old Georgie’s” temptations:
Unlock with LitCharts A+In my new tellin’, see, I wasn’t Zachry the Stoopit nor Zachry the Cowardy, I was jus’ Zachry the Unlucky’n’Lucky. Lies are Old Georgie’s vultures what circle on high lookin’ down for a runty’n’weedy soul to plummet’n’sink their talons in, an’ that night at Abel’s Dwellin’, that runty’n’weedy soul, yay, it was me.
Related Themes:
