Night and darkness
Metaphors can get complicated in the hands of a creative writer. That doesn't mean there’s anything inherently wrong with simplicity. For instance, “Outside, the night had crept in on tiptoe” is effective on its more symbolic level in its description of one of those events where something incredibly stressful happens that serves to make the day seems longer and distract attention from the slow arrival of the darkness of night.
Trees
Not all of the metaphorical language in this work is so simply stated. An example is philosophizing which concludes that “Life’s problems are like trees. We see the trunk, we see the branches and the leaves. But we can’t see the roots, hidden deep down under the ground. And yet it’s their shape and nature and how far they dig into the slimy humus to search for water that we need to know. Then perhaps we would understand.” This is an extended metaphor unlikely to show up in a story set high in the mountains or on some great flat plain. The metaphor is directly inspired and inextricably linked to the setting which is hinted at by the very title of the book. A mangrove is a tree or shrub that specifically requires deep and sturdy roots in order to acquire the oxygen needed for survival. The philosophical assertion which opens the metaphor is generic enough to apply to any species of tree located anywhere. The addition of precise details outlining the similarity between life’s problems and the trees which are thus described could only be a philosophical metaphor constructed by someone familiar with a setting where mangroves are encountered.
Racism
A major theme explored in this novel is racism. The exploration is not always of the straightforward type, however. “Such is the popular imagination. It transforms a man, whitens him or blackens him to the point that his own mother, the woman who gave him birth, cannot recognize him.” A deeper dive into racism is taking place here that examines the contours of race as it more broadly impacts society. One might even say that metaphor elevates the tendency toward a more visceral emotional reaction to the subject of racism to a higher plane of abstract philosophical engagement. The idea expressed in this passage insists on viewing the concept of race as an invented social idea rather than the product of biology as many people mistakenly assume.
Sugarcane
Sugarcane is a potent symbol in the story. “New crops were as fragile and capricious as young girls and people were never tired of lamenting the good old days of sugarcane…There was no denying the fact that the death of sugarcane was sounding the knell for something else in the country.” This passage hints that sugarcane may actually be the single most potent symbol because of the literal dependence upon it by every facet of the country’s society. The comparison of the unpredictability of the crop to that of young girls is a form of personification that succeeds both in raising the importance of the crop to the level of humanity and in suggesting there is a moral dimension to its death knell. It is as if to say if the sugarcane were only more durable and reliable, the good old days might never end.
Writing
Writing about the actual writing process is highly dependent upon metaphor because the job itself is necessarily sedentary and contemplative. “I’m not what you think I am. I’m more or less a zombie trying to capture with words the life that I’m about to lose. For me, writing is the opposite of living. I confess to impotence.” The engagement of the image of a zombie is especially effective because it is easily comprehended and surprisingly apt for describing the circumstances of a writer in the grasp of full creative concentration is fully concentrated. The suggestion that once the words are actually written down, they cease living in the imagination as the writer moves quickly to get down on paper the next image in his head is a metaphor that successfully replicates this ironic dimension to the act of creation.
