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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
Part 1, Chapter 1: The Joy Luck Club
Explanation and Analysis—Elephant and Fish Hills:
Though Suyuan dies two months before Jing-Mei’s narrative begins, the novel’s use of imagery keeps her memories alive. In Part 1, Chapter 1, Jing-Mei recounts the pre-war China of Suyuan’s early adulthood, initiating her reader into a lush world that surpasses dreams:
When I saw the hills, I laughed and shuddered at the same time. The peaks looked like giant fried fish heads trying to jump out of a vat of oil. Behind each hill, I could see shadows of another fish, and then another and another. And then the clouds would move just a little and the hills would suddenly become monstrous elephants marching slowly toward me!
Made possible by colorful metaphors and similes, the vivid imagery makes Suyuan’s “poor thoughts” seem pale by comparison. It honors the landscape’s beauty, by turns whimsical and imaginative; the imagery assembles a realm of fantasy that shifts and spellbinds. Gwilin’s hills resemble “fried fish heads” in a vat of oil, only to transform into “monstrous elephants” a sentence later. Hills turn into food and then marching animals. Suyuan’s storytelling gives the city an otherworldly beauty and lifts it off the novel’s pages.
Imagery strengthens the novel’s fantastical suggestions. Mothers forecast doom and sense elemental imbalances, mingling reality with the supernatural. These resonant descriptions showcase the compelling power of these stories, making them instruments of awe.
Related Themes:
Part 1, Chapter 4: The Moon Lady
Explanation and Analysis—Snake:
At times, Ying-Ying’s imagination leads her to mistaken impressions. Her metaphors color her reality, as when she recalls her fascination with the insect-deterring incense one summer afternoon:
I saw a green coil curled in the shape of a snake, with a tail that billowed yellow smoke. The other day, Amah had shown me that the snake had come out of a colorful box decorated with five evil creatures: a swimming snake, a jumping scorpion, a flying centipede, a dropping-down spider, and a springing lizard. The bite of any one of these creatures could kill a child, explained Amah.
Impressed by the green coil’s resemblance to a “snake,” Ying-Ying literally classifies it as one in the following sentence—“the snake had come out of a colorful box.” She remakes an everyday object into an animal, investing the creature with mythic, legendary status as it captures the corpses of the “Five Evils.” Insect incense gets elevated to become a thing of wonder.
The metaphor speaks to her psychological state as much as it endears. Ying-Ying’s childish comparison reveals the safety of her world and an innocence that gets ruptured during the Moon Festival. She nearly drowns and gets fished out of the water by a band of crude men, comes close to abandonment by her family, and sees the Moon Lady actor undress backstage. By the time she returns back home, she has “lost” herself and all her “innocence, trust, and restlessness.” The insect incense snake becomes a memento of a self that she has lost.
Related Themes:
