Anti-Semitism
One of the most powerful expressions of metaphor in the novel gained that power through the literal truth of history. It is a statement of belief by the oppressed that encapsulates a history of anti-Semitism that can be traced back through at least two-thousand years of recorded time:
“To the goyim what one Jew is is what they all are. If the fixer stands accused of murdering one of their children, so does the rest of the tribe. Since the crucifixion the crime of the Christ-killer is the crime of all Jews.”
A Fixer, Not a Mender
The title character explains that descriptive terminology through reverse metaphor. The metaphor in this case references what his literal description of himself does not cover.
“I fix what's broken - except in the heart.”
Philosophizing
In addition to lending depth and substance to things that are through comparison as well as things that are not, metaphor comes in hand for another important reason. Perhaps better than any other literary tool, metaphor can efficiently convey the dimensions of more abstract concepts:
“it’s possible to let love fly by like a cloud in a windy sky if one is too timid, or perhaps unable to believe he is entitled to good fortune.”
The Cosmic Stuff
The really big questions about things like the existence of God, free will, man’s place in the universe, spirituality and the bottomless ability of human to convince themselves of the existence of things for which there is evidence are also ripe material for the efficient introduction of metaphorical language. That which can be explained academically on two pages of highly referenced research is no match for one well-constructed metaphorical sentence:
“He thought of himself pursuing his enemies with God at his side, but when he looked at God all he saw or heard was a loud Ha Ha. It was his own imprisoned laughter.”
Imagery
When metaphorical descriptions are strung together for the purpose of bringing to more vivid life the description of a particular moment in time in the story, the result is usually called imagery. Sometimes imagery is metaphorical, but it is not necessarily so. In this particular example, the vivid quality of the delineation is arrived at precisely through the non-literal aspects of the scene:
“The wind wailed mutely in the prison yard. His heart was like a rusted chain, his muscle taut, as though each had been bound with wire. Even in the cold air he sweated. Amid the darkly luminous prisoners he saw spies waiting to kill him.”
