A Right-Wing Perspective
The language of the memoir is not that of a biographer, but rather that of a fictional narrator. This experimental technique brought the book some controversy, but there is no denying that on at least one level it is startlingly effective. This perspective puts the reader almost into the mind of Reagan himself by creating an inextricable link between the characterization of the narrator and that of its subject. As a result, much of the metaphorical language is situated within a right-wing conservative point of view expressed in exactly the way non-fictional analogues in the real world write about history. For instance, this passage which is actually about the election of John F. Kennedy:
“As `Karl Marx’ settled into the White House and his commissars of entitlement, oozing compassion from every pore, looked for ways to redistribute the national wealth, GE executives ban to wonder how long much longer they could tolerate Ronald Reagan’s anti-Washington rhetoric.”
That’s Some Metaphor
The utilization of a fictional first-person-seeming narrator with a special kind of insight into Reagan which need not be explained by historical rules of biography also affords the writer the opportunity to engage in some flights of really fancy writing. Maybe too fancy:
“All his life, Ronald Reagan has ridden a long road dissolving, at the limit of sight, into something scintillant yet ethereal.”
The Shining City
One of the metaphorical images most closely associated with Ronald Reagan is the phrase “shining city on a hill. The imagery dates back to Puritan leader John Winthrop and his concept of a new Jerusalem with those who escaped religious persecution in England as God’s new chosen people. It is a metaphor of hope that Reagan effectively sold as propaganda without realizing its origins. Winthrop’s shining city was one of exclusion in which those who failed to live up to Puritan ideals—Quakers, for instance—would not be allowed. Then again, maybe he did recognize its origins. Hard to tell from this actual quote from a Reagan speech:
“Don’t give up your ideals.… Recognize that there are millions and millions of Americans out there who want what you want … a shining city on a hill.”
The Soviet Union
Of course, the most famous metaphor associated with Ronald Reagan—bar none and absent any agenda for argument—is his figurative characterization of the Soviet Union. The only problem here is that it everybody else who thinks this is the most famous metaphor associated with Ronald Reagan. As for Reagan himself, the distinction between figurative and literal is fuzzy at the very best:
“When I called the Soviet Union an ‘evil empire,’ I meant it!”
Dutch in a Nutshell
Reagan got the nickname Dutch while broadcasting football games on radio. The job is where he learned the power of telling stories, a talent which would serve him well as a politician. The lesson he learned is metaphoric in nature and poetic in expression:
“Radio was theater of the mind.”
