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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 2: Beginners
Explanation and Analysis—People as Plants:
Throughout the novel, Thatcher has a tendency to metaphorically compare people to plants. This motif first emerges when Thatcher describes his family in Chapter 2:
He kept a private habit of assigning botanical character to his familiars: Polly was a hollyhock, cheerful, forthright, tallest bloom in the garden. Rose was of course a rose.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4: Scylla and Charybdis
Explanation and Analysis—People as Plants:
Throughout the novel, Thatcher has a tendency to metaphorically compare people to plants. This motif first emerges when Thatcher describes his family in Chapter 2:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He kept a private habit of assigning botanical character to his familiars: Polly was a hollyhock, cheerful, forthright, tallest bloom in the garden. Rose was of course a rose.
Related Themes:
Chapter 5: Striking Out
Explanation and Analysis—A Supersized House:
Near the beginning of the novel, Willa undertakes the arduous task of taking Nick to the doctor to treat his worsening illness. She struggles with his rudeness and ungratefulness, but in the doctor's office she reminds herself that he's family, and in pain. Kingsolver articulates this recognition with a metaphor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Objectively Willa knew that Nick Tavoularis was no place to be, a supersized house of pain besieged by aggressive fear or pride that made him resist medical attention.
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Chapter 7: The Cake
Explanation and Analysis—The Well Runs Dry:
In Chapter 7, Willa and Iano take a trip to a walking trail near Cape May and spend a few hours hiking and discussing their lives. During their conversation, they consider Tig's stance on capitalism and climate change—that a direct contradiction exists between a system that relies on infinite growth and a planet with finite resources. Willa remarks:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"What if Tig is right? [...] That the problem is actually the world running out of the stuff we need. That capitalism can only survive on permanent expansion but the well eventually runs dry."
"Nothing is ever that simple, moro. First of all, well in the sense you're using it is just a metaphor."
Related Themes:
Chapter 8: Shelter in Place
Explanation and Analysis—People as Plants:
Throughout the novel, Thatcher has a tendency to metaphorically compare people to plants. This motif first emerges when Thatcher describes his family in Chapter 2:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He kept a private habit of assigning botanical character to his familiars: Polly was a hollyhock, cheerful, forthright, tallest bloom in the garden. Rose was of course a rose.
Related Themes:
Chapter 11: Revelations
Explanation and Analysis—A Cardboard Box:
Shelters of various kinds, both literal and figurative, appear throughout Unsheltered to provide ways of understanding the relationships between truth, comfort, community, and existing beliefs. One of the most direct instances of this comparison occurs during a conversation between Tig and Willa about two thirds through the novel. In their discussion, Tig offers a compelling metaphor for how she believes people in Willa's generation tend to act:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Tig didn't look at her. "I'm not even really talking about Dusty. I'm saying you prepped for the wrong future. It's not just you. Everybody your age is, like, crouching inside this box made out of what they already believe. You think it's a fallout shelter or something but it's a piece of shit box, mom. It's cardboard drowning in the rain, going all floppy. And you're saying, 'This is all there is, it will hold up fine. This box will keep me safe!'"
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Explanation and Analysis—Treasure Chest of Time:
At the end of Chapter 11, Tig opens up to Willa about her relationship with Toto in Cuba and explains her deep love for the country. She describes her affection as based on the sense of human connection she felt there—an awareness of and compassion for past and future generations that Tig finds absent from American culture. She uses a metaphor about "the treasure chest of time" to explain how she felt:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"But in Cuba, whatever it is, you probably can't get more, so people take care. When you pick up a glass it's like you're raising a toast to all the people that drank from it before. All those happy anniversaries in a beautiful place, and all the future ones. It made me so happy, Mom. That night was our turn. We got to be in the treasure chest of time."
Related Themes:
Chapter 12: Treasure Chest of Time
Explanation and Analysis—A Supple Branch:
Near the end of Thatcher's public debate with Cutler over Darwinism and religion, Thatcher looks into the crowd and is inspired by a wink from Carruth. It gives him the bravery he needs to steadfastly tell the truth even in uncomfortable and embarrassing situations. Kingsolver conveys this newfound bravery in a passage of figurative language that features the novel's title:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He studied the crowded hall. This place of old philosophers and doomed progenitors was nothing to him. He was a supple branch, fleet of foot, motherless, unsheltered. Every adversity to this moment had made him a survivor.
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