Hetaera (Metaphor)
When de Beauvoir discusses the hetaera, she often refers to her as a metaphor for the ways in which women seek empowerment in desperate circumstances. The hetaera represents woman's ability to gain some social capital by accepting her role as an object. de Beauvoir does also discuss the hetaera as a concrete concept. However, she occasionally refers to her more metaphorically, as a representative for the ultimate objectification and over-sexualization of women.
Home (Metaphor)
In concrete terms, the sphere of the home is the woman's primary domain. However, de Beauvoir also discusses the home and homemaking chores as metaphors for women's larger condition. For example, she claims that, by throwing themselves into chores like cooking and cleaning, women are actually attempting to express their ability to care for others and assert the fact that they are necessary to society. The home also becomes a metaphor for woman's limited position within society; she makes the home into her own castle and controls what goes on inside of it, but only because she cannot step outside of it and involve herself more directly in society at large. The home can thus be compared either to a prison and to a castle, depending on one's perspective.
