Very Meta Metaphor
The opening paragraph of the section subtitled “The Gift of Strawberries” features of a panoply of metaphorical imagery as it analyzes the meaning of the controlling metaphor. The paragraph commences with a quote that is pure metaphor and then proceeds to introduce a simile by the author offering commentary upon that very metaphor. Very meta, indeed:
"I once heard Evon Peter…introduce himself simply as `a boy who was raised by a river.’ A description as smooth and slippery as a river rock. Did he mean only that he grew up near its banks? Or was the river responsible for rearing him, for teaching him the things he needed to live? Did it feed him, body and soul? Raised by a river: I suppose both meanings are true—you can hardly have one without the other."
The Title, Explained
Braiding sweetgrass carries the connotation of being a literal image. One can probably imagine the idea of sweetgrass actually being braided even if they may have trouble coming up with the purpose. Turns out, however, that the title is metaphorical. It is figuratively intended more so than it is literally:
“When we braid sweetgrass, we are braiding the hair of Mother Earth, showing her our loving attention, our care for her beauty and well-being, in gratitude for all she has given us.”
Poetry
At times, the prose in this text reaches for the height of poetic expression primarily through the introduction of figurative elements. One of the most poetic moments in the narrative succeeds entirely as it manages to transform what would otherwise be a very simple description into a portrait of poetic aesthetics:
“Out at sea, beyond where the canoes can go, there is a pinprick of light on a pitch-black coast, a match in the darkness, flickering, beckoning below the white plume that drifts down the coast to mingle with the fog. A spark in the vastness.”
Immigrant Problems
America’s immigrant problem hardly began with the latest outcry by white society against the latest ethnic group to inspire ire. Go back in time and America has been an equal opportunity institution when it comes to believing that its problems are caused by new arrivals. In reality, of course, this has only been true once: with the arrival of white, European, Christian settlers:
“an invitation to settler society to become indigenous to place feels like a free ticket to a housebreaking party.”
Literary Allusion
A favorite form of metaphor is one dependent upon literary allusion. The point is to draw a parallel between what the writer is discussing and the historical knowledge floating freely about the universe. Of course, this only works if the reader recognizes the allusion and can make the connection. In this case, the allusion is far from obscure, making the metaphor fairly obvious:
“The mycorrhizae may form fungal bridges between individual trees, so that all the trees in a forest are connected. These fungal networks appear to redistribute the wealth of carbohydrates from tree to tree. A kind of Robin Hood, they take from the rich and give to the poor so that all the trees arrive at the same carbon surplus at the same time.
