Street Pup (Simile)
“Then, for no earthly reason, at least no reason that anybody could understand, certainly no reason that Nel understood then or later, she smiled. Like a street pup that wags its tail at the very doorjamb of the butcher shop he has been kicked away from only moments before, Helene smiled” (Morrison 35).
On the train to New Orleans Helene and a young Nel catch the ire of a white conductor for walking through a “whites only” compartment. After being chastised rudely for their mistake, Helene smiles up at the conductor like a street dog trying to please a human who just kicked it. This simile aptly describes how subservient and eager to please African Americans like Helene acted during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras. By acting contrite, acquiescent, and obedient, Helene hopes to curry favor with the white conductor and avoid future confrontation.
Wet Light (Metaphor)
“Now there seemed to be some kind of wet light traveling over his legs and stomach with a deeply attractive smell. It wound itself—this wet light—all about him, splashing and running into his skin. He opened his eyes and saw what he imagined was the great wing of an eagle pouring a wet lightness over him. Some kind of baptism, some kind of blessing, he thought. Everything is going to be all right, it said. Knowing that it was so he closed his eyes and sank back into the bright hole of sleep” (Morrison 63).
The above quote is from Plum’s perspective the night his mother Eva sets him on fire and kills him. To Plum, the kerosene is a wet light, and resembles baptismal water. It’s soothing and peaceful to Plum, and he goes calmly into death. Using the metaphor of a baptism for Eva killing Plum is powerful. At this point of the story, Eva knows that there’s nothing she can do to ease her son’s suffering, and believes that death is his best option. So she literally gives him a baptism by fire, absolving her son of his sins and releasing him from the earthly demons he brought back with him from the war.
Jewels (Simile)
“The beautiful, beautiful boys who dotted the landscape like jewels, split the air with their shouts in the field, and thickened the river with their shining wet backs. Even their footsteps left a smell of smoke behind” (Morrison 73).
The summer of 1922 is a fateful one for Sula and Nel. It’s the summer they discover men, and the potential power they can have over them. It’s also the summer that they accidentally kill Chicken Little, and the initial chasm between the two best friends is born. The beautiful boys they meet during the summer of 1922 go on to have reverberating effects on their lives, and so in this quote they are compared to dazzling jewels. The jewels signify the expensive emotional and psychological price these men make them pay, and the fact that these men are eventually unattainable. Because in the end, neither Nel or Sula can keep the men they want.
Something Newly Missing (Metaphor)
“The water darkened and closed quickly over the place where Chicken Little sank...the water was so peaceful now. There was nothing but the baking sun and something newly missing” (Morrison 79).
In this quietly tragic and powerful metaphor Chicken Little’s drowning is compared to “something newly missing.” This comparison strikes home how quickly and suddenly life is snatched away from the young boy, who is gaily playing only moments before his death. This metaphor and Chicken’s overall death demonstrate how tenuous life could be for African Americans in early to mid-20th century America.
Spiders (Metaphor)
“Nel was the first person who had been real to her, whose name she knew, who had seen as she had the slant of life that made it possible to stretch it to its limits. Now Nel was one of them. One of the spiders whose only thought was the next rung of the web, who dangled in dark dry places suspended by their own spittle, more terrified of the free fall than the snake’s breath below” (Morrison 146).
When Sula returns to the Bottom she begins to sleep indiscriminately with men of her neighborhood, whether they are married or not. Her mother Hannah used to do the same, but Sula’s style of promiscuity is deeply offensive to the other women of her community, whereas her mother’s was not. In this quote Sula uses a metaphor to compare the jealous women to fearful spiders, scared of putting themselves out there but poisonous and vicious all the same. From this metaphor, it’s clear that Sula somewhat blames the women themselves for their husbands' adultery. In her mind, perhaps if these women were daring and exciting like she was, their husbands wouldn’t be tempted to stray.
