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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 The Age of Innocence
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—May the Cave-Fish:
Once Archer and May are engaged, Archer gets to know her better and becomes increasingly frustrated with her innocence and lack of knowledge about the world. During a moment of inner reflection, he uses a pair of metaphors to capture her ignorance:
It would presently be his task to take the bandage from this young woman’s eyes, and bid her look forth on the world. But how many generations of the women who had gone to her making had descended bandaged to the family vault? He shivered a little, remembering some of the new ideas in his scientific books, and the much-cited instance of the Kentucky cave-fish, which had ceased to develop eyes because they had no use for them. What if, when he had bidden May Welland to open hers, they could only look out blankly at blankness?
Related Themes:
Chapter 22
Explanation and Analysis—Archer's Unrolled Future:
When Ellen leaves for Boston out of the blue during her emotional affair with Archer, he is distraught. The narrator captures his worried state using a metaphor and imagery:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Archer was dealing hurriedly with crowding thoughts. His whole future seemed suddenly to be unrolled before him; and passing down its endless emptiness he saw the dwindling figure of a man to whom nothing was ever to happen. He glanced about him at the unpruned garden, the tumble-down house, and the oak-grove under which the dusk was gathering.
Related Themes:
Chapter 26
Explanation and Analysis—New York Society:
In many ways, Archer’s mother (Mrs. Archer) represents the most traditional aspects of New York society. When describing how Mrs. Archer views changes taking place in New York, the narrator uses a potent metaphor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[P]unctually at about this time Mrs. Archer always said that New York was very much changed. Observing it from the lofty stand-point of a nonparticipant, she was able […] to trace each new crack in its surface, and all the strange weeds pushing up between the ordered rows of social vegetables. […] For New York, to Mrs. Archer’s mind, never changed without changing for the worse.
Related Themes:
Chapter 30
Explanation and Analysis—Archer’s “Death”:
Near the end of the novel, Archer is becoming increasingly obsessed with Ellen and disinterested in May. While at home together one night, he and May have a tense interaction, during which he metaphorically describes himself as being “dead,” as seen in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+After he had leaned out into the darkness for a few minutes he heard her say: “Newland! Do shut the window. You’ll catch your death.”
He pulled the sash down and turned back. “Catch my death!” he echoed; and he felt like adding: “But I’ve caught it already. I am dead—I’ve been dead for months and months.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 33
Explanation and Analysis—At the Farewell Dinner:
When Archer is at Ellen’s farewell dinner, he becomes aware that everyone at the party (including May) believes that he and Ellen are lovers but are acting as if they do not. The narrator uses a metaphor and a simile to capture Archer’s experience in this scene:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Archer once more disengaged the fact that New York believed him to be Madame Olenska’s lover […] [F]or the first time understood that [May] shared the belief. The discovery roused a laughter of inner devils that reverberated through all his efforts to discuss the Martha Washington ball with Mrs. Reggie Chivers and little Mrs. Newland; and so the evening swept on, running and running like a senseless river that did not know how to stop.
Related Themes:
