Endings
“The House Plans” ends on a metaphorical note. This should not come as a surprise since the opening paragraph is a thick forest of metaphor. If the beginning is a bit crowded, the closer is elegant in its simplicity:
“I was too happy to suspect that at any moment my frustrations and disappointments, like a cloud of locusts, would darken the sky and descend on me again. The evening was serene, the light smooth and soft, the earth paralyzed, and I, far below, the only moving creature.”
Openings
“The Housemaid” is also rich in metaphor, though it feels less cluttered than “The House Plans.” Perhaps it seems so because the metaphors in the above story are directed toward a huge expand of land while those in this story are not just descriptions of character, but self-description by a first-person narrator:
“I know I am not pretty. I have a hasty and lopsided way of walking, as though I were crippled in one leg…My skin is the color of a toad’s belly”
But what is especially effective in this example is that the paragraph ends with the focus having been shifted to the narrator’s mother:
“But I am not nearly as ugly as my mother,…Her face is small and wrinkled and black like a prune…I can hardly bear to sit across from her at dinner.”
By not breaking the paragraph into two to reflect its sudden change in thought, the use of metaphor is serves notice to the reader to pay attention.
A Precision of Language
Davis is a very careful writer, always aware of the power of language in telling the story. In “Mr. Burdoff’s Visit to Germany” as an example, the meaning of the glowing eyes metaphor is directly and precisely linked to the simile of eating a meal since “satiety” is a word describing the feeling of being satisfied after indulgence while eating.
“When the lights go up, Mr. Burdoff examines Helen’s face. A smile hovers around her lips, her forehead and cheeks are damp, and her eyes glow with satiety, as though she has eaten a large meal.”
Pronoun Trouble
Davis is often forced to use metaphor to convey character because so many of her character lack names. Pronouns are plentiful and too many can become confusing. The way to work out that confusion often winds up being a very powerful and meaningful metaphorical image:
“She herself feels she is like the very stupid man, not only because she couldn’t find her clothes, not only because sometimes other simple things besides getting dressed are also beyond her, but most of all because she often doesn’t know where she is, and particularly concerning this man she doesn’t know where she is. “
Extended Metaphor: Metaphor as Subject
Because she is such a prolific writer and because a great deal of her short stories are better defined as short-short stories, Davis often doesn’t limit her use of metaphor to precise imagery. Often the entire subject is a metaphor. A classic example is “The Professor” which commences with the line:
“A few years ago, I used to tell myself I wanted to marry a cowboy.”
Although no metaphor or simile is on display in that sentence or, indeed, the rest of the paragraph, by the end of the page it becomes clear that the cowboy here is something much bigger and meaningful than just some dude in jeans, boots and a hat with a ridiculously large brim. The story’s closing line seals the deal on whether the cowboy is literal or metaphorical. Many of the author’s stories follow this pattern to one degree or another.
