Pop Culture vs. Ancient Mythology
Pop culture has long since replaced classic mythology as the go-to source for allusion-based metaphors. And there is very good reason for this. Take the catty remark one of the four friends makes of Isobel, the interloper who “looks like a Bond girl.” This simile will immediately bring up a visual reference point for far more people today than something along the lines of “looks like one of the Muses.”
Not the One from the Bible
Sometimes it can be a little tricky trying to determine whether a simile is an allusion to ancient myth or not. “Simi exhaled dramatically. He was obsessed with making her pregnant. It was like living in Gilead.” Gilead used to be a popular metaphor because it alluded to the Bible which has long been rich source for such metaphorical references. In this case, however, key to understanding the reference is the part about the pregnancy. The Biblical Gilead has nothing to do with enforced pregnancy. The Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale is all about that subject, however.
Idiomatic Metaphors
At one point a character says to another, “I am your father” and prefaces it by explicitly asserting “I am not even joking.” So even though it may seem like another pop culture reference—and one that actually gets the quote right—this is the not the case. The metaphorical reference here is what follows the assertion of fatherhood: “I am still the head of this family. She is a bad apple. From a bad tree.” This is an example of an idiomatic expression as a metaphor. The idiomatic expression suggests a genetic predisposition toward, for lack of a better word, wickedness. The phrase precedes the actual discovery of genes, but in its own way foresaw the discovery of genetics with its implication that certain negative traits could be passed down through generations.
Generation Gap
Pop culture is definitely the preference over ancient myth when it comes to constructing metaphorical comparisons. One example, however, is complicated by the fact that pop culture is starting to get to the point where it has been around long enough where familiarity is starting to be impacted by the generation gap. “Some families are Waltons and some are Lannisters.” A fortunate few will understand the extremities separating these two TV families. Most younger readers, however, will have to rely on context to assume the Waltons represent wholesome family values while many older readers will do the same to make assumptions about the lack of wholesomeness among the Lannisters.
No More Goody-Boo-Shoes
One of the four friends is named Boo. Due to the notable lack of four-letters words in her vocabulary she earned the nickname Goody-Boo-Shoes in college. Things have changed significantly recently, stirring Boo to wonder, “How long before they dripped out of her mouth like poison into Sofia’s sponge-like brain?” The reference to poison indicates that while Boo’s discourse may lately be more given to profanity, it is not a badge of honor for her. Sofia is her young daughter, so the metaphorical description of her brain is not quite the insult it may appear when taken out of context.
