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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 8: A Slippery Hitch
Explanation and Analysis—A Flexible World:
Reminiscing on his time spent in Brazil in Chapter 8, Nutbeem uses a metaphor to capture the experience of seeing a simple but effective boat called a jangada:
The world was all knots and lashings once—flex and give, that was the way it went before the brute force of nails and screws. Tells you something, eh?
Of course, the world was never literally "all knots and lashings," but Nutbeem's metaphor speaks to the way in which the connections between things used to be intuitive and more deeply felt than they are now. Modern technology has brought brute force to the world so that things are no longer flexible; nails and screws eliminate the flex and give that once gave the world and its objects character.
This metaphor reflects the more general ambivalence toward modernity in the novel. While it is true that advances in technology and medicine have made life more livable, the modern forces of capitalism have also taken away some of the vibrancy and intimacy of human life. Proulx makes use of this metaphor so that she can refer to something local—the construction of boats so common in life in Killick-Claw—while also commenting on the world at large.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10: The Voyage of Nutbeem
Explanation and Analysis—Over the Himalayas:
During a dinner in Chapter 10, Proulx uses metaphor to indicate the aunt's lack of interest in the conversation:
The aunt's red face bent down, parentheses around her mouth set like clamps. Impossible to know if she was listening to Nutbeem or flying over the Himalayas.
In this passage, Proulx shows how metaphor can vary widely in terms of scale while still describing the same object. The "parentheses" around her mouth are not really parentheses but deep lines called nasolabial folds. However, by using the metaphor of parentheses, Proulx also conveys the aunt's isolation from the conversation: like the content inside parentheses, she is set off from the main action of the table (the conversation between Quoyle and Nutbeem).
At the same time, she is either listening to Nutbeem or "flying over the Himalayas." In other words, she is either engaged in the conversation or very far away from it. The Himalayas are on the other side of the world from Newfoundland, and "flying" over them suggests a trance or dreamlike state that takes the aunt out of reality and places her elsewhere. Here, metaphor expresses a feeling both more specifically but also more subtly than a more explicit description would.
Chapter 38: The Sled Dog Driver’s Dream
Explanation and Analysis—Sweet as Love:
After Quoyle sees Wavey at a party at the Burkes' house in Chapter 38, a metaphor comes to him:
Was love then like a bag of assorted sweets passed around from which one might choose more than once? Some might sting the tongue, some invoke night perfume. Some had centers as bitter as gall, some blended honey and poison, some were quickly swallowed. And among the common bull's-eyes and peppermints a few rare ones; one or two with deadly needles at the heart, another that brought calm and gentle pleasure. Were his fingers closing on that one?
This metaphor begins as a simile, asking if love is like a bag of sweets. However, it then evolves into a metaphor, ascribing specific properties of love to each sweet. Though these sweets all look delicious, some of them contain dangerous ingredients like poison or deadly needles. It is hard to know in the beginning what one might find at the center of the sweet.
For Quoyle, this metaphor reflects his contrasting experiences with love. While Petal seemed sweet at first, she ultimately abandoned Quoyle and endangered their daughters. Wavey, on the other hand, radiates kindness inside and out. Part of Quoyle's journey in the novel is discovering what it means to both love and be loved.
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