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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—Chastity:
In the midst of a flashback in Chapter 18, Jordan recounts his time spent with Karkov in Madrid. During this recollection, Jordan contemplates the ways in which he himself has become complacent in his work, using metaphor to illustrate his thoughts:
But was it corruption or was it merely that you lost the naivete that you started with? Would it not be the same in anything? Who else kept that first chastity of mind about their work that young doctors, young priests, and young soldiers usually started with? The priests certainly kept it, or they got out. I suppose the Nazis keep it, he thought, and the Communists who have a severe enough self-discipline. But look at Karkov.
The above indirect metaphor dwells on the "chastity of mind," relating sex drive and virginity to work drive, discipline, and personal motivation. This metaphor may also connect sexuality to an individual's sense of purpose, or level of idealism with regards to their profession. A "chaste" mind, in this analogy, refers to the mind of a person that has yet to be tainted with disillusionment. Chastity represents a pre-sexual state, one in which the person in question may not even be aware of what sex is. Similarly, Jordan's "chastity of mind" is a pre-experiential, idealized state.
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