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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 3: The Fall
Explanation and Analysis—Acting:
Describing her own feeling of distance from the experiences on the Weylin Plantation, Dana uses a metaphor that compares herself and Kevin to “observers watching a show.” After Nigel, an enslaved adolescent, requests that Dana teach him how to read and shows her the scars that evidence past whippings, Dana notes:
I began to realize why Kevin and I had fitted so easily into this time. We weren’t really in. We were observers watching a show. We were watching history happen around us. And we were actors. While we waited to go home, we humored the people around us by pretending to be like them. But we were poor actors. We never really got into our roles. We never forgot that we were acting. This was something I tried to explain to Kevin on the day the children broke through my act. It suddenly became very important that he understand.
Related Themes:
Chapter 5: The Storm
Explanation and Analysis—A Horse's Bit:
Though Alice pretends to accept her new position as Rufus’s mistress, she privately harbors a strong desire to flee the Plantation, despite the fact that she was brutally beaten during her first failed attempt to escape. She uses a metaphor drawn from the language of horse-riding while explaining to Dana her disinterest in trying to make peace with Rufus, who had previously offered to free their children as an incentive for her cooperation:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“It don’t matter what he says,” she told me. “Did he show you any free papers?”
“No.”
“When he does, and you read them to me, maybe I’ll believe him. I’m tellin’ you, he uses those children just the way you use a bit on a horse. I’m tired of havin’ a bit in my mouth.”
I didn’t blame her. But still, I didn’t want her to go, didn’t want her to risk Joe and Hagar. Hell, I didn’t even want her to risk herself.
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Chapter 6: The Rope
Explanation and Analysis—Two Halves:
In a climactic scene in the novel, in which Dana fatally stabs Rufus as he attempts to sexually assault her, Rufus uses a metaphor that imagines Dana and Alice as “one woman”:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“You’re so much like her, I can hardly stand it,” he said. “Let go of me, Rufe!” “You were one woman,” he said. “You and her. One woman. Two halves of a whole.” I had to get away from him. “Let me go, or I’ll make your dream real!” Abandonment. The one weapon Alice hadn’t had. Rufus didn’t seem to be afraid of dying. Now, in his grief, he seemed almost to want death. But he was afraid of dying alone, afraid of being deserted by the person he had depended on for so long.
Related Themes:
