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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
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Bunny as a Boat:
Bunny's behavior after discovering the truth about the Dionysian ritual becomes erratic and dangerously unpredictable. Richard uses an extended metaphor to explain the shift in Bunny's character:
Bunny, for all his appearance of amiable, callous stability, was actually a wildly erratic character. […] He sailed through the world guided only by the dim lights of impulse and habit, confident that his course would throw up no obstacles so large that they could not be plowed over with sheer force of momentum. […] Now that the old trusted channel-markers had, so to speak, been rearranged in the dark, the automatic-pilot mechanism by which his psyche navigated was useless; decks awash, he floundered aimlessly, running on sandbars, veering off in all sorts of bizarre directions.
In this metaphor, Richard compares Bunny to a boat, claiming that his autopilot is all out of sorts. Bunny's old methods of sailing on impulse and plowing through obstacles are no longer feasible. Because Bunny has encountered an insurmountable obstacle—the farmer's murder for which he can be charged as an accessory—his boat is in disuse. Faced with information that bruises his ego and endangers his freedom, Bunny is forced to navigate his life with more intention. This is something that Bunny struggles with, causing him to float aimlessly and inefficiently through the rough waters.
As is made clear through the restaurant incident with Richard and Henry in Chapter 2, Bunny is used to being able to control everyone around him. He typically uses the perception of wealth, self-importance, and a little bit of ignorance to manipulate people. Now, burdened with incriminating information, he is lost, no longer able to rely on any of his stunts or manipulative tactics.
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Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—The Dollhouse:
Following Bunny's murder, Richard and the other Greek students often feel dissociated from real life, using drugs, sex, and alcohol to keep themselves from spiraling out of control. To highlight his dissociation, Richard uses a metaphor to describe the Hampden campus:
It was a strange, bright, dreamlike day. The snowy lawn—peppered with the toylike figures of distant people—was as smooth as sugar frosting on a birthday cake; a tiny dog ran, barking, after a ball; real smoke threaded from the dollhouse chimneys.
In this passage, Richard compares Hampden College to a dollhouse or the figurine top of a wedding cake. These comparisons merely mimic real life but are still tangible and, most importantly, controllable. At this point in the novel, the Greek students are desperate to maintain control of the situation, whether that means acting normally in the immediate aftermath or pretending to be clueless during police investigations. Thinking about Hampden as toylike figures specifically helps Richard cope and feel like he has everything under control.
Stepping away from the lawless world and looking at it from above helps curb Richard's guilt and anxiety surrounding the murder. Moreover, the "smooth as sugar frosting" lawn evokes rare peacefulness and beauty at this point in the novel, making this moment the calm before the storm of federal interrogations.
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Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Hampden as a Petrie Dish:
When the students at Hampden College learn of Bunny's death, mass hysteria arises. With a metaphor, Richard compares the state of the college to a Petrie dish:
Hampden College, as a body, was always strangely prone to hysteria. Whether from isolation, malice, or simple boredom, people there were far more credulous and excitable than educated people are generally believed to be, and this hermetic, overheated atmosphere made it a thriving black Petrie dish of melodrama and distortion.
In comparing Hampden to a Petrie dish, Richard suggests that the college is full of dramatic students—much like Bunny and his own histrionics—who become enthralled and excited by any event that draws them out of their Vermont bubble. Because of the campus’s isolation from the rest of the world, it is comparable to an isolated dish full of organisms whose behavior scientists attempt to understand.
In the same way that the contents of a Petrie dish can join and grow, so too can the students of Hampden thrive and build upon each other, especially in terms of fear. It is a small enough college that news travels fast; one person’s news almost instantly becomes another person's gossip. Like a Petrie dish, Hampden is airtight, so any type of news, particularly tragic news, becomes hysteria.
Such a scientific metaphor also emphasizes the strangeness of the students at Hampden College and how different they are from people Richard knew in California. This comparison implies that Richard views the students at Hampden as specimens that he wants to understand. Richard wants more than anything to be accepted by his peers and to blend in with the East Coast crowd.
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