Metaphor - Homer's heart
In order to prevent Homer from going to war, Dr Larch lies about Homer’s health, saying that he has a heart condition called pulmonary valve stenosis which can be triggered by stress. He passes this information on to Candy and the other people at Ocean’s View, only strengthening the lie. Over the years, Homer accepts Dr Larch’s diagnosis as utter truth, and does not question it at all. He often tells people he has a ‘bad heart’. It is only at the very end of the book when he returns to St Clouds that he finds out the truth ‒ he sees Dr Larch’s entry in his journal which reads: ‘Tell Dr Stone (Homer’s new alias) there is absolutely nothing wrong with Homer’s heart.’ This final entry has two meanings ‒ that Homer didn’t ever have a heart condition, and also, that he was not a bad person; he did not have a ‘bad heart’. People often colloquially describe people’s heart’s as measures of their character, and thus Larch’s lie becomes a perfect metaphor. Throughout his time at St Cloud’s, Homer doesn’t agree with what Larch is teaching him about abortions, causing Larch to become angry and believe that Homer is a sullen, stupid teenager ‒ that he has a bad heart. Because of his refusal to follow his true fate, Homer’s ‘heart’ continues to be thought of as bad ‒ in other words, Larch is angry at Homer’s attitudes. However, he continues to love Homer, and when Homer finally realizes his true destiny, he discovers Larch’s love for him, and his belief that Homer never truly was a bad person.
Simile - Melony
Page 31, ‘[Melony] was about sixteen (no one really knew her exact age) and there was in the fullness of her breasts and in the roundness of her bottom very much the suggestion of melons.’
This description of Melony gives the reader a clearer mental image of what she looks like, as her large, strong physique is something commonly mentioned throughout the novel, and helps her defend herself against threats later on. Additionally, it shows how she got her name, through the mistyping of the name ‘Melody’, which lends further to the idea that orphans are often thought of as ‘mistakes’.
Simile - Grace Lynch
Page 239, ‘Even with her body curled so tightly in upon itself ‒ like the gull in the rain or like a fetus or like a woman with cramps ‒ Homer had no trouble recognizing Grace Lynch.’
Despite this quote being about Grace Lynch, it is actually Homer’s character that we gain insight into from it. His description goes from ordinary to specific ‒ his references to his past show how Dr Larch’s teachings of obstetrics are deeply ingrained in him.
Metaphor - The cider house rules
The book’s namesake, the cider house rules at Ocean’s View orchards, represent one of the key themes in the novel ‒ rules, and how they affect people. This theme spans both locations of the novel, both at Ocean’s View and St Cloud’s. At Ocean’s View, rules are shown to harm the black cider house workers, restricting the things they enjoy for the sake of power. For example, one of the rules is that the workers aren’t allowed to go onto the roof, which is one of the things they enjoy most ‒ they love looking out at a distant Ferris Wheel and wondering what it is. Rules also affect the women who want abortions, as the law means that they either can’t have abortions or have to have them illegally, often dangerously. The theme of rules spans throughout the entire text, using the extended metaphor of the cider house rules to show how rules often oppress minority groups for the sake of the majority’s gain. The cider house rules are put up by the people who run the cider house, just as the rules of society are put up by people who are in control, often rich or privileged in some other way. The minorities most shown are African-Americans, and more predominantly, women ‒ the rules of society restrict their lives, just as the cider house rules restrict, in a more minor way, the workers’ lives.
Simile - The gonococci
Page 41, ‘Years later Larch would write that the gonococci looked stooped, like too-tall visitors in an igloo. (“They bend,” he wrote, “as if they have waists and are bowing to each other.”)
Larch’s whimsical description of the bacteria that infected his penis shows how despite the pain the infection caused him, he later found that they seemed stooped, almost humble in posture. This shows the idea that despite past events seeming so real and important at the time, later on we realize that they weren’t as monumental as we thought they were.
