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Imagery
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
Explanation and Analysis—Mars Is A Rock:
Following the death of Alicia Neal in Chapter 3, Lauren writes about the potential in space exploration. She believes "space exploration and colonization are among the few things left over from the last century that can help us more than they hurt us." However, she uses metaphor to express the idea that Mars is too close to be humanity's "heaven":
Mars is a rock—cold, empty, almost airless, dead. Yet it's heaven in a way. We can see it in the night sky, a whole other world, but too nearby, too close within the reach of people who've made such a hell of life here on Earth.
Related Themes:
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Planting Earthseed:
The name Earthseed, in reference to seeds, is itself a metaphor for the process of regeneration and rebirth. In the following passage from Chapter 7, Lauren explains how she first decided on naimg her religion "Earthseed":
Unlock with LitCharts A+[Seeds] have no ability at all to travel great distances under their own power, and yet, they do travel. Even they don't have to just sit in one place and wait to be wiped out...
Earthseed.
I am Earthseed. Anyone can be... And I think we'll have to seed ourselves farther and farther from this dying place.
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Wrapped in Illusions:
In Chapter 12, Lauren's father goes missing when he fails to return home from his job. The community organizes a search party, which Lauren joins, but they are ultimately unable to find him. She uses imagery and metaphor to describe the search:
Unlock with LitCharts A+We never found him. We found human bones and animal bones. We found the rotting corpses of five people scattered among the boulders. We found the cold remains of a fire with a human femur and two human skulls lying among the ashes. At last, we came home and wrapped our community wall around us and huddled in our illusions of security.
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Chapter 18
Explanation and Analysis—A River Flows:
During her journey north, Lauren meets Travis Charles Douglas and his family. She begins to discuss the tenets of Earthseed with the group and claims Travis Douglas is her first convert in Chapter 18. This gives Lauren hope that the future of Earthseed is beginning, and she uses a metaphor to express her hope to meet and influence more converts on her journey:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Earthseed is being born right here on Highway 101—on that portion of 101 that was once El Camino Real, the royal highway of California's Spanish past. Now it's a highway, a river of the poor. A river flooding north.
I've come to think that I should be fishing that river even as I follow its current. I should watch people not only to spot those who might be dangerous to us, but to find those few like Travis and Natividad who would join us and be welcome.
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Chapter 23
Explanation and Analysis—Insatiable Hunger:
In Chapter 23, two people sneak into Lauren's group camp at night. She discovers upon waking that the two intruders are a young woman and a child. Here, the book uses the metaphor of hunger to represent not only a physical hunger for food but also a hunger for intangible things:
Unlock with LitCharts A+They sat where they were and watched us with hungry, hungry eyes. There was more hunger in those eyes than we could fill with all our food.
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