Peter Pan
by J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan: Metaphors 2 key examples

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 14: The Pirate Ship
Explanation and Analysis—A Vain Tabernacle :

In Chapter 14 of Peter Pan, the narrator uses a "vain tabernacle" as a metaphor for the average human being: 

Hook trod the deck in thought. O man unfathomable. It was his hour of triumph. Peter had been removed for ever from his path, and all the other boys were on the brig, about to walk the plank. It was his grimmest deed since the days when he had brought Barbecue to heel; and knowing as we do how vain a tabernacle is man, could we be surprised had he now paced the deck unsteadily, bellied out by the winds of his success?

Chapter 15: ‘Hook Or Me This Time’
Explanation and Analysis—A Little Bird:

In the midst of a sword fight between Captain Hook and Peter Pan in Chapter 15, Peter describes himself with a telling metaphor:

“Pan, who and what are thou?” he [Hook] cried huskily.

“I'm youth, I'm joy,” Peter answered at a venture, “I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg.” This, of course, was nonsense; but it was proof to the unhappy Hook that Peter did not know in the least who or what he was, which is the very pinnacle of good form.

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