The Thrush
Although Winnie’s stream of consciousness monologue can appear to be the ravings of a mind driven to lunacy by her loony situation, metaphor provides a kind of roadmap of insight into her character. Consider her view of the thrush which sings not for the pleasure of others, but from the heart:
“No, like the thrush, or the bird of dawning, with no thought of benefit, to oneself or anyone else.”
Gossamer
That imagery of the bearable lightness of being is elsewhere expressed in Winnie’s metaphor answer to what proves to be more than a rhetorical question:
“Don’t you ever have that feeling, Willie, of being sucked up?”
“Sucked up?”
“Yes love, up into the blue, like gossamer.”
Willie
Not all of Winnie’s metaphorical observations are self-directed, however. When she looks out at her husband Willie, her mind is still working inwards, however. How does his situation compare to hers:
“You do look snug, I must say, with your chin on your hands and the old blue eyes like saucers in the shadows.”
The Sound of Cryig
Suddenly anxious, she thinks she has Willie’s cries and wonders in terror if he has become stuck as well. Then, almost instantly, the reappearance of reality:
“No no, my head was always full of cries.”
Winnie, Interrupted
Perhaps the most insightful metaphor of Winnie’s long monologue is a confession that seems to be leading to a revelation when she is suddenly distracted by Willie’s postcard:
“That is what I find so comforting when I lose heart and envy the brute beast."
