Pop Culture
One of the problems with making metaphor out of pop culture references is that the full experience may not be conveyed. The simile here is intended to convey the carefree attitude of four young boys enjoying an entire day without any adult supervision doing the kinds of goofy things young boys do. The reference overlooks the fact literally the entire movie is about what happens to four boys who set secretly set off to see a dead body:
“I swear our growing up was like a scene from the movie Stand by Me , but with four little Black boys as the leads.”
“This Land Is Your Land”
While in third grade, the author’s school puts on a play called “This Land is Your Land” that was intended to make American history entertaining as well as informative. He then goes on to point out how the facts he was taught about that history were either wrong or left out of the textbooks. This leads to one of the most assertive utilizations of metaphor in the entire book:
“American history is truly the greatest fable ever written.”
Nanny
Nanny is an instrumental character in the book. Indeed, many readers will almost certainly agree that she pops off the page as arguably the most memorable entity in the story. The rationale behind this argument is succinctly made clear in a metaphorical image that is demonstrated throughout action more than a few times:
“Nanny always had bite. She was definitely not a person who was more bark than her bite. She just sometimes also needed to bark to get it out of her system.”
The Cemetery of the Never-Known
The author gives a shout-out to the well-received acceptance speech by Viola Davis upon winning an Oscar for Fences. It is a perfect example of what some reviewers find troubling about the book overall: a tendency to work hard to force his own story oddly-shaped peg into a hole specifically designed for the geometry of others:
“I often think about a statement Viola Davis made when she won her first Oscar. Something along the lines of encouraging people to go to the graveyard and dig up all the dead bodies in order to hear and tell the stories of those whose dreams were never realized…This book is proof positive that you don’t need to go to the graveyard to find us.”
Masking
Masking is a metaphorical term used in relation to dealing with the trauma of being gay in a predominantly heterosexual world populated by what is likely a much larger percentage of homophobic people than is thought. The term inspires a metaphor-rich paragraph on the part of the author:
“Masking is a common coping mechanism for a Black queer boy. We bury the things that have happened to us, hoping that they don’t present themselves later in our adult life. Some of us never realize that subconsciously, these buried bones are what dictate our every navigation and interaction throughout life.”
