“Mold of the Earth”
This is a very short story; a short-short story. As such, the author has stripped down his prose to just the necessities which means shearing away superfluous metaphorical imagery. That being said, however, the plot turns on the use of simile in relation to a key object:
“The Temple of the Sibyl, the bench and the boulder vanished. I sensed about me a faint luminosity and an immense void. And when I turned my head to the side, I saw something like a schoolroom globe that shone with a faint light, as large as the boulder beside which we had been a moment before.”
“Fading Voices”
Another demonstration of minimalist storytelling, “Facing Voices” is about aging, change, progress, and the perspective that progress is not always such. It is focused on the memories of a retired military hero and centers primarily upon his view of the world. From this is learned through metaphor, important things to know:
"In politics, my dear Captain," said the Colonel, "the prime virtue is caution. No doubt about it!”
“The Living Telegraph”
In this story, the author uses metaphorical imagery to mine for ironic humor as the expense of a character who seems to deserve it. It is a strange little story; one expects the irony to lead somewhere, yet fails to show any interest in following up on this tease:
“A spark took light in the Countess' heart. But since she was easily wearied by thinking, she endeavored to forget about it.”
“Shadows”
One might well expect that a story title “Shadows” would have little choice but to engage the defining metaphor of the modern age: darkness. And one would be right In fact, though the story is barely four pages long, the metaphor shows up not once, but twice:
“He scurries along the sidewalk as if he were being chased by the darkness.”
“In the darkness of life, where humankind blunders about, unseeing and unhappy, where some crash into obstacles, others fall into the abyss, and no one is sure of the way; where people, hampered by superstition, are prey to accident, destitution, and hatred—in the unlit wilderness of life there are also lamplighters.”
“Antek”
“Antek” is one of the author’s longer stories and almost as if teasing, Prus holds off almost literally until the last page before whipping out a prime example of the depth talent for constructing metaphor. It is nothing more than descriptive setting, but through the use of metaphorical imagery, it is transformed almost into poetry:
“Toward evening clouds covered the sky and a fine rain fell. But as the clouds were not thick, the rays of the setting sun broke through. It looked as if a golden dome covered with mourning crape were suspended over the dull land and the muddy clay of the road. Across that dull, silent, treeless land, on the muddy road, the weary boy walked slowly along in his gray coat, the basket and the bag on his back.”
