“The flies have conquered the flypaper.”
This metaphor becomes something of a recurring motif. The metaphorical image here is one in which the conquerors of the town are militarily in charge of things, but cannot escape the encroachment of feelings of fear and trepidation at the power which belongs to those who call the town home. When the townspeople get wind of this metaphor, they transform into a chant to inspire confidence and up the fear factor.
Tonder and Molly
Tonder is a lieutenant with the “flypaper.” Molly is a townsperson; one of the flies who have conquered the soldiers. Of course, the methodology of conquering varies wildly depending on the people and circumstances. In a beautifully wrought metaphor, Tonder lays bare his emotional state of mind:
“A man needs love. A man dies without love. His insides shrivel and his chest feels like a dry chip. I’m lonely.”
On the Danger of Mob Thinking
Very early on—in just the second chapter—Steinbeck muses upon the meaningless of war through metaphorical imagery that touches upon the potential danger for mob thought to turn essentially rational minds into authoritarian mush:
“In marching, in mobs, in football games, and in war, outlines become vague; real things become unreal and a fog creeps over the mind.”
Character Description
Most authors show a preference for the simile when it comes to character description. The comparison mode of description is effective shorthand for telling the reader something about a character by making it tangible. When it comes to describing Lt. Tonder, however, Steinbeck once again shows his personal preference is for the more poetic metaphor:
“Lieutenant Tonder was a poet, a bitter poet who dreamed of perfect, ideal love of elevated young men for poor girls. Tonder was a dark romantic with a vision as wide as his experience.”
Tension
The main dramatic conflict here is that between the soldiers and the townspeople; the flypaper and the flies. This tension is reproduced over and over throughout the narrative in simple language that effectively communicates the growing resentment of the flies toward what they are coming to see as ineffectual flypaper:
“At the mine the soldiers carefully searched every miner who went into the shaft, searched and researched, and the soldiers were nervous and rough and they spoke harshly to the miners. The miners looked coldly at them, and behind their eyes was a little fierce jubilance.”
