Metaphor for Racism
In her essays, bell hooks creates a metaphor for racism and being complicit in racism by arguing that people who are silent and passive when they see or face the effects of discrimination in their society, whether it be white people or minorities, are helping the continuance of racism. This metaphor can clearly be seen in her quote where she says "All our silences in the face of racist assault are acts of complicity.” We can also see her metaphor in use when she is sitting in the airport next to the white man reading the newspaper. Although he himself has not committed any act of racism towards bell hooks or other minorities, as far as she can tell, bell hooks argues that he is still racist and helps the advent of racism by doing nothing when he sees it occurring all around him.
Metaphor for Subordination
In addition to fighting against prevailing notions of people who advocate for discrimination in society, bell hooks also fights against people who simply state that people should ignore race entirely. She creates a metaphor between giving up race and the cultural attitudes that go with race and between subordination to a society that will oppress people who do not fit the idealized notion already in place. One of her quotes perfectly sums it up, and she says, "The notion that we should all forsake attachment to race and/or cultural identity and be 'just humans' within the framework of white supremacy has usually meant that subordinate groups must surrender their identities, beliefs, values, and assimilate by adopting the values and beliefs of privileged-class whites, rather than promoting racial harmony." If people give up their race and other characteristics that make them unique individuals, then they have fallen under the trap of subordination and have won no equality for themselves.
Metaphor for Defiance
bell hooks is especially adamant about changing the status quo of society, one very important reason being that she as a black woman does not have the same rights and respect in society. Another part of society she is trying to change is the idea that our conversations about class and our financial standings should be private. She wants black people to overcome the fear about opening up about their class and financial standings, especially because it is usually white supremacists who insisted that these topics remain private. bell hooks connected the dots between opening up about class divisions and defiance. We can see her state this metaphor in the book; "None of us should be ashamed to speak of our class power or lack of it. Overcoming fear, even the fear of being immodest, and acting courageously to bring issues of class- especially radical standpoints – into the discourse of blackness is a gesture of militant defiance." By connecting this idea of defiance with speaking up about class divisions, bell hooks is able to create a powerful metaphor that persuades other black members of society fighting for civil rights to speak up.
Metaphor for Identity Change
A final metaphor that can be found in the anthology written by bell hooks is the metaphor presented to the reader between fluidity and adaptation to new circumstances and between identity change. bell hooks presents the idea that minorities are often very fluid in terms of their character as they are forced to change to their environment and circumstances they live in, which more often than not was less stabilized than white people. She talks about how this fluidity is like identity change for the people. She presents this metaphor in one of her essays, which is showcased by this quote where she says, "Fluidity means that our black identities are constantly changing as we respond to circumstances in our families and communities of origin, and as we interact with a wider world." Fluidity is really a metaphor for the fact that the lives of people in the black community changed so much that it was like they became new people. Not only was this metaphor used in a negative light, it was highlighted in a positive stance to show that minorities can change their identities from those of oppressed individuals to those of free and equal individuals.
