The Daughters of the Late Colonel: Metaphors 2 key examples

The metaphor of their father being "in the chest of drawers" points to Colonel Pinner's enduring control over his daughters' lives, even after his death. Josephine doesn’t know how to put her creeping feelings that the Colonel has not left the building into words for her sister. His presence is still definitively there, permeating the most personal and intimate spaces of their home. The drawers and dressers and desks are still full of his things. His watch marks the passing of time in the house, and his eyes are peeping around every corner.

Describing the father as "ready to spring" amplifies this, intensifying the sense of fear and caution that Josephine feels. This phrase suggests that the Colonel’s influence is not passive but actively threatening. Just as he was in life, he’s a predator lying in wait for Jug and Con to do something he can punish them for. He has a hard psychological grip on his daughters even in death. Describing this dead man in the same terms as a dangerous animal conveys the depth of Josephine’s traumas surrounding him. It also outlines the extent to which the Colonel’s authoritarian presence has destroyed the Pinner sister’s autonomy and sense of safety. Even though their father has finally gone, they still feel like prey animals in his den.

The simile that Mansfield uses here, "camels [unwinding] like a thread of wool" illustrates Constantia's wish to distance herself from her current surroundings. The tense atmosphere of meals with only her sister and Nurse Andrews is so unbearable to her that she has to find an imaginative way to escape them. Here, she envisions a gaping desert in front of her, with a column of camels in the distance undertaking a slow and laborious journey. They’re far away enough in the distance to seem like a “thread of wool,” as if they are only visible as a line rather than distinct animals.

This imagery invites readers to visualize Constantia's strained, intense attitude toward all of her interactions. Even in her imagined world, things are indistinct and mundane, “camels” changed to “wool” on the horizon. She can’t tell the Nurse to leave, or be rude to her in any way, because doing so would violate her own social contract. She’s forced to sit and bear her, no matter what she says or does. By envisioning a desert, Constantia also—perhaps unknowingly—creates a mental landscape of isolation. It’s the opposite of the table’s oppressive chatter, contrasting sharply with the discomfort of her immediate environment. This metaphor emphasizes the stark difference between her inner world and the reality of her situation.