Metaphors

Definition
Metaphor: expresses a person or object by comparing it to something that has similar characteristics to the person or object being described. Unlike similes, metaphors do not use the words "like" or "as" to compare. Metaphors directly say that something //**is**// something else.

Examples in The Plot Against America
On page 172, Roth writes, "I remained in bed with a high fever for six days, so weak and lifeless that the family doctor stopped by every evening to check on the progress of my disease, that not uncommon childhood ailment called why-can't-it-be-the-way-it-was." In this example, Philip compares his illness to the feeling that things will never be the same. He's compares that feeling to being sick; while Philip has an actual illness, he's convinced that it's really the changing world that's making him sick. This is especially notable because it is the last line of that section.

Also, on page 299, Roth wrote, “[Joey’s grandmother] peered out from the doorway of the dark kitchen…fixing us in the crosshairs of her madness.” This compares Joey’s grandmother’s madness to the crosshairs of a gun. This metaphor shows that her madness was focus on the Roth family, and by comparing it to a component of a gun highlights the viciousness of her mad ravings. It is also effective because, at this point, there is a shootout occurring outside the Roth’s apartment. By incorporating guns into the metaphor, Roth is tying it back to the action occurring at that moment.

Other Examples
media type="custom" key="1969676" In this video there are some examples of metaphors that are more commonly used in everyday language. In the first example, the man on the right says " the early crow gets the...meat." The metaphor he was trying to use is "the early bird gets the worm," which means that a person who wakes up early will have a better opportunity to get better things. Another metaphor that is said is "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," which means that it is better to have something that is certain than take a risk to get more, where you might lose everything.

Other comparisons are used, such as "she's like a cow in a plate store" ("like a bowl in a china shop"), but this is not a metaphor because it is using the word "like" to compare.

(a joke made about the metaphor of being "stabbed in the back")

There are many examples of metaphors in the news. Terms like "Troop surge" and "Oil addiction" are both metaphors themselves. The former compares the increase in troops in Iraq to a storm surge, with increasing levels of troops hopefully overwhelming all adversity in its path. The latter is basically saying that our nation's dependence on oil is essentially the same as an addict to his drug. Neither could last very long without it.

The title of the song "Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" by Wolf Parade is a metaphor. The songwriter, Spencer Krug, compares modern society to hungry ghosts. Hungry ghosts are an aspect of Tibetan Buddhism where the souls of greedy people are to spend the afterlife with giant stomachs and tiny throats, so that they're always hungry but choke on the smallest amount of food. In the song, Krug sings about modern society and how it greedy it is and how our generation especially seems superficial. So in the title, Krug compares modern soceity to these hungry ghosts, saying that today's society is the direct descendent of things that never can satasfy what they need. For reference, in [|this interview] Krug talks about that specific song quite a bit.

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