Reflection of Aging
A powerful metaphor is applied to describe the fundamental purpose of a looking glass. Why do we stare at our reflections? To check on the course of aging. Or, more typically, to check on the latest attempt to defy aging:
“Mirrors are for misery, nothing…They record decay.”
Celia’s Letters
Celia’s letters are a minefield of metaphorical imagery. Most of them are, admittedly, filled with the factual minutiae. But within those details of a life being lived are the occasional philosophical punctuations of a life being contemplated:
“I wish I could live underwater. Maybe then my skin would absorb the sea’s consoling silence. I’m a prisoner on this island, Gustavo, and I cannot sleep.”
Descriptive Imagery
Metaphorical imagery is heavily used throughout the story to bring vivid life to the setting. This setting bounces back and forth between Cuba and New York as well as between recollections of the past and the narrative of the present. More than any other element, the focus of this imagery is on the effect of the sun to transform the setting from the literal to the metaphorical:
“The sunset flares behind a row of brownstones, linking them as if by a flaming ribbon. Lourdes massages her eyes and begins walking with legs that feel held by splints.”
Skipping a Generation
Lourdes fails to get along with her mother. Lourdes fails to get along with her daughter. At one she attributes this to a genetic mutation capable of causing malevolence. The metaphor is a famous one, used as the title for a popular play and film adapted from it:
"Pilar is like her grandmother, disdainful of rules, of religion, of everything meaningful. Neither of them shows respect for anyone, least of all themselves. Pilar is irresponsible, self-centered, a bad seed.”
Felicia
Felicia leads that is rich is metaphor. This is not necessarily an explication of a life that is fulfilled. In fact, Felicia is one of those unfortunates who must cling to the life of the metaphor because the existence literally played out is one disappointment following hard upon another:
“La Madrina slipped the sacred necklace of Obatala around Felicia's neck. Felicia told me she grew sleepy, and felt as though she were drifting through the heavens, that she was a planet looking at herself from one of her moons.”
