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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 Dawn
Book 1, Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Medusa Children:
When Jdahya reveals the true pillars of the Oankali mission —the rebirth and the trade—Lilith becomes distraught and fearful once more. This fear manifests in her mind as she imagines with descriptive metaphors what crossbreeding with the Oankali might produce:
“No!” she shouted. “A rebirth for us can only happen if you let us alone! Let us begin again on our own.”
Silence.
She pulled at her arm, and after a moment he let her go. She got the impression he was watching her very closely.
“I think I wish your people had left me on Earth,” she whispered. “If this is what they found me for, I wish they’d left me.” Medusa children. Snakes for hair. Nests of night crawlers for eyes and ears.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Judas Goat:
After learning of her assigned role in the rebirth of humanity, Lilith is desperate to find another human being, someone with whom to share the burden and communicate unabashedly. With an allusive metaphor, Lilith describes her sacrificial role that the Oankali give her:
Unlock with LitCharts A+This trip, she felt, would be worthwhile if she could just catch a glimpse of Fukumoto—of any human Awake and aware. Anyone at all.
She had not realized until she actually began looking how important it was for her to find someone. The Oankali had removed her so completely from her own people—only to tell her they planned to use her as a Judas goat. And they had done it all so softly, without brutality, and with patience and gentleness so corrosive of any resolve on her part.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Stallions and Mares:
When Lilith finally has the opportunity to speak to another human, Paul Titus, she is shocked by his conspiratorial and violent nature. Desperate not to give the Oankali what they want, Paul attempts to rape Lilith, a repugnant action, which Lilith uses a metaphor to describe:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“They’ve had two hundred and fifty years to fool around with us,” she said. “Maybe we can’t stop them, but we don’t have to help them.”
“The hell with them.” He tried to unfasten her jacket.
“No!” she shouted, deliberately startling him. “Animals get treated like this. Put a stallion and a mare together until they mate, then send them back to their owners. What do they care? They’re just animals!”
He tore her jacket off then fumbled with her pants.
Related Themes:
Book 3, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—A Needed Drug:
As Lilith explains to Tate the details of their situation and what will be necessary in the future, Tate questions whether Lilith had kids in her prior life. Frustrated by Tate’s suspicions and begrudging attitude, Lilith seeks solace in her newly acquired Oankali senses, using a metaphor to describe the feeling:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Lilith took a deep breath. “Let me alone now. I’ll call you when I’ve found Celene.”
Tate moved away, settled against the opposite wall near one of the rest rooms. Lilith closed her eyes and began inching along again. She let herself lose track of time and distance, felt as though she were almost flowing along the wall. The illusion was familiar—as physically pleasing and emotionally satisfying as a drug—a needed drug at this moment.
Related Themes:
Book 4, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Cassandra:
In a confrontation between the humans and ooloi, Nikanj becomes gravely injured, its sensory arm almost completely severed from its body. Lilith attempts to convince Nikanj to do things differently with the next group of humans to avoid such injury, but uses an allusive metaphor to describe her helplessness:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She looked at Nikanj’s still-healing sensory arm. “Listen to me,” she said. “Let me help you learn about us, or there’ll be more injuries, more deaths.”
“Will you walk through the forest,” Nikanj asked, “or shall we go the shorter way beneath the training room?”
She sighed. She was Cassandra, warning and predicting to people who went deaf whenever she began to warn and predict. “Let’s walk through the forest,” she said.
Related Themes:
