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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 Oliver Twist
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Oliver's Resurrection:
Oliver's evolving relationship to graves, coffins, and deathbeds throughout the novel is an extended metaphor for his upward trajectory. He is born on his mother's deathbed and nearly dies himself in Chapter 1:
The fact is, that there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of respiration,—a troublesome practice, but one which custom has rendered necessary to our easy existence,—and for some time he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather unequally poised between this world and the next, the balance being decidedly in favour of the latter.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Oliver's Resurrection:
Oliver's evolving relationship to graves, coffins, and deathbeds throughout the novel is an extended metaphor for his upward trajectory. He is born on his mother's deathbed and nearly dies himself in Chapter 1:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The fact is, that there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of respiration,—a troublesome practice, but one which custom has rendered necessary to our easy existence,—and for some time he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather unequally poised between this world and the next, the balance being decidedly in favour of the latter.
Related Themes:
Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Anti-Semitism:
Oliver Twist has often been accused of anti-Semitism, and for good reason: the text uses anti-Semitic stereotypes to turn Jewishness, especially Fagin's Jewishness, into a metaphor for corruption and criminality. One instance of this comparison occurs in chapter 19, when Fagin goes to Sikes to arrange the burglary on the Maylies' house:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It was a chill, damp, windy night [...]. It seemed just the night when it befitted such a being as the Jew to be abroad. As he glided stealthily along, creeping beneath the shelter of the walls and doorways, the hideous old man seemed like some loathsome reptile, engendered in the slime and darkness through which he moved, crawling forth by night in search of some rich offal for a meal.
Related Themes:
Chapter 30
Explanation and Analysis—Oliver's Resurrection:
Oliver's evolving relationship to graves, coffins, and deathbeds throughout the novel is an extended metaphor for his upward trajectory. He is born on his mother's deathbed and nearly dies himself in Chapter 1:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The fact is, that there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of respiration,—a troublesome practice, but one which custom has rendered necessary to our easy existence,—and for some time he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather unequally poised between this world and the next, the balance being decidedly in favour of the latter.
Related Themes:
Chapter 32
Explanation and Analysis—Oliver's Resurrection:
Oliver's evolving relationship to graves, coffins, and deathbeds throughout the novel is an extended metaphor for his upward trajectory. He is born on his mother's deathbed and nearly dies himself in Chapter 1:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The fact is, that there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of respiration,—a troublesome practice, but one which custom has rendered necessary to our easy existence,—and for some time he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather unequally poised between this world and the next, the balance being decidedly in favour of the latter.
Related Themes:
Chapter 35
Explanation and Analysis—The Stain:
Harry Maylie and Rose Maylie are cousins, but in the context of Victorian England, that is not what gets in the way of them marrying one another for much of the novel. Despite being a perfect match, in Chapter 35, Rose describes a metaphorical "stain" that makes her unfit to marry Harry:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"[T]here is a stain upon my name which the world visits on innocent heads; I will carry it into no blood but my own and the reproach shall rest alone on me."
Related Themes:
