Meet the Periwinkles
The stories contained within the sketches are narrated by one Tribulation Periwinkle. That is a name, believe it or not. A family name, and if one cannot guess what type of family they are, the narrator herself provides a metaphorical background to make the nature of her lineage clear:
“…the Periwinkles are a hopeful race; their crest is an anchor, with three cock-a-doodles crowing atop. They all wear rose-colored spectacles, and are lineal descendants of the inventor of aerial architecture. An hour's conversation on the subject set the whole family in a blaze of enthusiasm.”
The Nurse as Writer
Metaphorical passages and figurative imagery lend an aesthetic side to the practicality of nursing in a field hospital. Tribulation Periwinkle may desire to be a nurse, but she clearly possesses far greater talents in the field of literary production.
“Having been run over by three excited surgeons, bumped against by migratory coal-hods, water-pails, and small boys, nearly scalded by an avalanche of newly-filled tea-pots, and hopelessly entangled in a knot of colored sisters coming to wash, I progressed by slow stages upstairs and down, till the main hall was reached, and I paused to take breath and a survey.”
Metaphorical Awareness
That Periwinkle is a born writer rather than a born nurse is perceived clearly through her indulgence in figurative language. Throughout the different scenes of the book, she maintains a keen awareness about the literacy of her writing. One example is her concern about whether a metaphorical comparison is truly appropriate:
“I feel a glow of moral rectitude in saying this of her; for, though a perfect pelican to her young, she pecked and cackled (I don't know that pelicans usually express their emotions in that manner,) most obstreperously, when others invaded her premises”
Trials of Tribulation
The link between Tribulation Periwinkle and her creator is made clearer than ever in the sections, in which, the character betrays the author’s abolitionist views. Tribulation Periwinkle is as determined in her objection to slavery and prejudice within the hospital as Alcott herself was:
“The nurses were willing to be served by the colored people, but seldom thanked them, never praised, and scarcely recognized them in the street; whereat the blood of two generations of abolitionists waxed hot in my veins, and, at the first opportunity, proclaimed itself, and asserted the right of free speech as doggedly as the irrepressible Folsom herself.”
Contextual Metaphor
Sometimes in old books, the reader might come across a phrase that was clearly intended as a metaphor, but which stands completely new and unfamiliar. Many old sayings and proverbial phrases have been transformed into universally recognized metaphors, but slang has a funny way of being wildly familiar today and utterly incoherent a decade later. At one point, Periwinkle refers to herself using a name that seems to have been certainly an example of common slang back then. If so, however, its meaning has been lost through time:
“Feeling myself no longer a "Martha Struggles," but a comfortable young woman, with plain sailing before her, and the worst of the voyage well over, I once more presented myself to the valuable McK.”
The Periwinkles as a Whirlwind – A simile
“I have a confused recollection of spending the afternoon in pervading the house like an executive whirlwind, with my family swarming after me…”
This is a simile comparing nurse Tribulation and the rest of her family to a whirlwind by means of the language construct “like”. The comparison is in terms of restlessness and the great tumult and excitement which prevailed over all of them.
Tribulation in a Cobweb – A simile
“Like an energetic fly in a very large cobweb, I struggled through the State House, getting into all the wrong rooms and none of the right, till I turned desperate…”
In this passage, Tribulation compares herself to a fly due to the resemblance of her insignificant struggle with that of a fly in a massive cobweb. This simile serves the author’s purpose of transmitting the situation of women, back then, in vivid colors.
Vivid Comparisons
Alcott’s book is full of vivid comparisons which add to the aesthetic aspect of the narration, and at the same time draws a very clear picture of the recorded events. One such example is the simile used to describe the smell which invaded the train taken by Tribulation to reach Washington,
“The penetrating perfume rouses the multitude, causing some to start up, like war horses at the smell of powder.”
The Houses as Jails – A Simile
“All the houses look like tidy jails, with their outside shutters”
This is another simile used to portray with extraordinary clearness and realism the different scenes and towns visited by the protagonist during her journey towards Washington.
The Wounded Irishman – Metaphor and Simile
“I chanced to light on a withered Irishman, wounded in the head, which caused that portion of his frame to be tastefully laid out like a garden, the bandages being the walks, his hair the shrubbery”
In this passage, the narrator has combined the use of metaphors and simile, creating thus a humorous tone in order to describe the state of one of her patients without having to enfold his case in a grave and gloomy atmosphere.
Motherly Tribulation – A simile
“This comical tableau produced a general grin, at which propitious beginning I took heart and scrubbed away like any tidy parent on a Saturday night. Some of them took the performance like sleepy children, leaning their tired heads against me as I worked, others looked grimly scandalized, and several of the roughest colored like bashful girls”
In this passage, a number of metaphor and similes are combined to create a clear image of Tribulation at her task in the mind of the reader. She is compared to a mother in terms of tenderness and determination, while the soldiers, in her charge, are compared to different types of children according to their temperaments and reactions.
