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Hyperbole
Definition of Idiom
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Think Like a Horse:
In Chapter 1, Lily helps her father train the horses, working with the half-broken ones, and he advises her by using both an idiom and a simile:
Everyone who spent time around horses, Dad liked to say, needed to learn to think like a horse. He was always repeating that phrase: “Think like a horse.” The key to that, he said, was understanding that horses were always afraid [...] They were all the time looking for a protector, and if you could convince a horse that you’d protect him, he would do anything for you.
The phrase "Think like a horse" compares the ranchers' way of thinking to the horses'. The difference between them, Lily's father argues, needs to be bridged so that they can effectively train the horses. The fact that this is a simile, not a metaphor (i.e., saying something along the lines of "Be a horse in your thinking"), allows Lily to understand that there will always be a distance between horses and people. Even though she grows close to the horses, she will never be truly like them, and she has to actively adapt to the horses' way of seeing the world.
This simile also becomes an idiom, as Lily's father makes it a motto and repeats it constantly. It impacts Lily's whole life and worldview, even after she finishes training horses and moves away to teach. She understands that she has to think like her subject—whether it be a horse or a schoolchild—in order to effectively teach them.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Two Nickels:
In Chapter 2, when the Caseys move back to the KC Ranch, the Clemenses' daughter, Dorothy, warns Lily's father against killing his neighbor's dogs in retribution, using an idiom to show how feuds can destroy families:
“My brother’s dead, and we ain’t got two nickels to rub together,” [Dorothy] said, “because a stupid argument over a damn game of horseshoes got out of hand.”
Dorothy uses the idiom "two nickels to rub together" to exaggerate the state of poverty her family is in after her brother's death. It isn't as though they don't literally have two nickels to rub together, but she uses this expression to show that they are in such a state of poverty that they feel as though they don't have the luxury of even rubbing two coins together.
She uses this idiom for two reasons: first, to convince Adam that such an argument can destroy one's entire family and livelihood, not just impacting Adam but his wife and children, too. Secondly, the idiom serves to show that this is not an isolated incident. The phrase is common, and other families are in similar situations of not having "two nickels to rub together." If Adam pursues this feud further, they, too, may end up in the same situation as those families.
Related Themes:
