Physicality
The ability of the simile to create an immediately recognizable image in one’s mind is almost beyond compare. If one side of the simile is familiar it automatically facilitates the other side. Such is the intent and success displayed here even though the author adds the curveball at the end:
“The dry-cleaning woman squinted as though trying to see past the glare of my strangeness, repeating my surname under her breath.”
Metaphorical or Literal?
Occasionally, a reader comes across an image that makes one wonder, if only briefly, whether it is metaphorical at all. In this case, there probably are some people who really do create the thing in question, thereby making this a literal statement:
“I had torn up my map for the future, the one that said not only where I was going but who I was.”
Basic Parenting Advice 101
It really isn’t until one sees it in print that one sometimes recognizes just how much parental advice is basically just a warmed-over serving well-used metaphor. The sad truth is, however, that much of what parents tell their kids to instill a sense of optimism about their future is simply plucked from a bottomless barrel of parental expectations:
“They told me often, while I was growing up, that, if I wanted to, I could be president someday, that here my grasp would be as long as my reach.”
The Dropout
After entering college with the intent to pursue a doctoral degree in English literature, the author drops out due to distinct lack of passion. Metaphorical imagery comes into play to describe the profound mixture of complicated and conflicting emotions at this decision as she describes a state of mind in which she:
“felt I was staring at the bottom of the abyss.”
Conclusion
“The Good Daughter” concludes on a note of irony framed as metaphor. The reference here traces back to the reason why the dry-cleaning woman is squinting at the strangeness of her:
“When my parents boarded the plane, they knew they were embarking on a rough trip. I don’t think they imagined the rocks in the path of their daughter who can’t even pronounce her own name.”
