Scythe: Metaphors 3 key examples

The narrator describes, in a somewhat comic way, how meeting Faraday will change Citra's life. He is the "new and far more pernicious variable" in her life. Citra's moral fortitude later in this scene will cause Faraday to choose her as an apprentice, which sets off the year-long plot of her initiation into the Scythedom. This huge change in Citra's life is described as another feature of the algebra she struggles to solve. 

A student struggling with algebra is a common, even stereotypical image of adolescent life. As such, this metaphor emphasizes Citra's youth. She and Rowan are only 17, still struggling with math homework, while getting embroiled in the complex plots of murderous scythes. On the other hand, though, this metaphor also shows Citra's work ethic as she "slav[es] over" her homework. From the very beginning of the book, Citra shows that she will apply herself completely to any task in front of her. In her apprenticeship Citra will distinguish herself in her capacity for academic study and her willingness to learn new skills and concepts. In both these ways, this early metaphor establishes Citra's character for the rest of the novel.

The alliteration sets off the description of Citra's expression: she spoke with "deadpan dullness but daggers in her eyes." The repeated /d/ sounds make a dull, thudding sound that seems to reflect Citra's desire to thump Rowan for prioritizing a group of strangers over her, and for aligning himself with the evil Scythe Goddard. 

This alliteration is the beginning of a larger metaphor: she had "daggers in her eyes as sharp as the ones that used to hang in Faraday's weapons den." The narrator describes Citra's anger in this way to connect it to the widespread imagery of weapons in the book. Note that in an earlier scene, Citra had a formative moment in Faraday's weapons den, where she first considered the possibility of really being a scythe. Thus the reference back to those particular daggers implies that Citra's new distrust of Rowan is a result of her long training in tact and emotional strength as an apprentice. As she has learned under Scythe Curie, Citra learns how to stare with daggers, as well as how to wield them.

Goddard asks Rowan whether he will be "the eagle or the mouse." In other words, Goddard asks Rowan whether he will be a predator, gleaning to quench a natural thirst for killing, or whether he will be a prey animal, controlled and intimidated by stronger foes. Note the contrast between Goddard's perspective and Faraday's, which aligns more closely with the original Scythe Commandments. Faraday emphasizes that a scythe must not enjoy killing and should only do so because they must. Goddard, on the other hand, seems to think he must kill, just as an eagle must kill for food. 

Goddard's metaphor connects to a larger motif in the novel of metaphors and similes using animals. Shusterman uses such metaphors to highlight how, by achieving practical immortality, human beings have made themselves fundamentally unnatural, separating themselves from animals by removing the need to die. But the characters in the novel still often act like animals, showing that despite medical and technological advances, human beings are still natural beings. Goddard's comparison shows his animal need for murder, like an eagle.