Paradise Itself is a short story filled with various metaphors, some more prevalent than others. There are three master metaphors in this story. They compare Tim and Julianne’s relationship to Adam and Eve’s story, relationships in general to sports, and men to animals in the wild. The master metaphors are reinforced by a string of mini metaphors. Together these comparisons broaden and shape the story allowing for a more coherent understanding of the author’s true thoughts and feelings. Like all metaphors, at a specific point they will fall apart and appear to stray from the intended meaning it was trying to convey. Although these comparisons do fall apart, Paradise Itself would not be the same story without these metaphors. It is clear
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Throughout the story, there were many references to men and animals, and also farm life. One metaphor is “I’d fallen for Julianne like a sack of feed on my Uncle’s farm.” Feed is usually in heavy bags so this shows that Tim was falling hard for Julianne. He also describes baseball players as a “prime catch” compared to the rest of the men in Deeohongwa. Julianne herself describes the men at college as animals and her mother shoots at Tim like he is prey. Another farm metaphor is “I straightened up like someone poked me with a cattle prod.” This is when Julianne takes Tim by surprise and shows up to his game. Once he knows she is there, he straightens up and is aware just like an animal would be if poked with a prod. An idea for this metaphor is that men can be both prey and predator, not one or the other. Tim thinks he is the predator and taking initiative in his relationship with Julianne, when in reality he is her and her mother’s prey. This happens with animals in the wild too. Where this metaphor falls apart is that people don’t need to “hunt” a significant other in order to survive like animals must hunt food. People have various other reasons. Also, people tend to think over their decisions and can decide whether something is right or wrong. The decisions that animals make are typically instinct based and dependent on whether that decision will help them survive or not. Men are very similar to animals and the wild, but there are some key
Throughout the story, there were many references to men and animals, and also farm life. One metaphor is “I’d fallen for Julianne like a sack of feed on my Uncle’s farm.” Feed is usually in heavy bags so this shows that Tim was falling hard for Julianne. He also describes baseball players as a “prime catch” compared to the rest of the men in Deeohongwa. Julianne herself describes the men at college as animals and her mother shoots at Tim like he is prey. Another farm metaphor is “I straightened up like someone poked me with a cattle prod.” This is when Julianne takes Tim by surprise and shows up to his game. Once he knows she is there, he straightens up and is aware just like an animal would be if poked with a prod. An idea for this metaphor is that men can be both prey and predator, not one or the other. Tim thinks he is the predator and taking initiative in his relationship with Julianne, when in reality he is her and her mother’s prey. This happens with animals in the wild too. Where this metaphor falls apart is that people don’t need to “hunt” a significant other in order to survive like animals must hunt food. People have various other reasons. Also, people tend to think over their decisions and can decide whether something is right or wrong. The decisions that animals make are typically instinct based and dependent on whether that decision will help them survive or not. Men are very similar to animals and the wild, but there are some key