Not the Next Mrs. Tucker Carlson
The groundbreaking aviator at the center of this story, Marian Graves, is not exactly the type of character likely to find a warm spot in the bosom of those touting supposedly traditional American values. She’s a corker, a rebel, and, in the words of some, a militant feminist. What can you say: the truth hurts.
“In any event, here I am. A wife. I’m told girls dream of being wives, but wifedom seems an awful lot like defeat dressed up as victory. We’re celebrated for marrying, but after that we must cede all territory and answer to a new authority like a vanquished nation.”
Flight
As might be expected, the concept of flight is described in heavily metaphorical language throughout the text. Sometimes it is just a simple simile for the sake of comparison. In other instances, things get a bit more poetic:
“Our flight is in defiance of the sun and its daily traverse. Come west, the sun says. It tugs at us, runs off like a child trying to entice us to follow.”
Comic Effect
On the other hand, some of the metaphorical imagery related to the narrative focusing on Hadley’s acting career eschew poetry in favor of laughs. One image in particular is memorable for the precision of its metaphorical reference point
“Before my callback for Katie McGee, I’d stayed in character for days, like I was Daniel Day-Lewis in a training bra”
Character Description
Metaphorical imagery is always a handy tool for efficient delineation of character. A few figurative comparisons can say more about a character than entire paragraphs of straight-up facts:
“He has his same old affable charm, but something is different, something nebulous but pervasive. He reminds her of a statue that has been broken and glued back together, its shape the same but its surface spiderwebbed with cracks.”
Setting
The funny thing about the use of metaphorical imagery in this example is that it starts out in a way that leads to an expectation that the description is metaphorical, but it turns out to be quite literal. It is only the secondary description that introduces figurative language into this secret about Los Angeles:
“The sky in L.A. is full of vultures, sometimes great big spiraling tornadoes of them towering up into the clouds, only people usually don’t look.”
