Metaphor: Marketplace
The marketplace is a metaphor for life and death. It contains life and death within it.
Simile
The praise-singer says, "Your name will be like the sweet berry a child places under his tongue to sweeten the passage of food" (10).
Metaphor: The Not-I Bird
The story of the Not-I bird is a metaphor for humanity's fear of death and the unknown.
Metaphor: The Play Itself
The entire play is a metaphor for the clash between European and African cultures, religions, and societies, as seen in the clash between Elesin and Pilkings.
Metaphor: Sex
Sex is a metaphor for life-force, vitality, fertility, and the sustaining of the Nigerian people.
