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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Scene One
Explanation and Analysis—Beast in a Cage:
In the following excerpt from Scene 1, O'Neill uses the stage directions to set the scene in the bowels of the ship, describing the physical appearance and demeanor of the working men. To do this, O'Neill uses metaphor to continue with the trend of juxtaposing human and animal:
The room is crowded with men, shouting, cursing, laughing, singing—a confused, inchoate uproar swelling into a sort of unity, a meaning—the bewildered, furious, baffled defiance of a beast in a cage.
The men on board the ship are "beast[s] in a cage," fumbling about in a "confused, inchoate uproar." While they are undoubtedly human, the men's behavior parallels that of herd animals grouped together, moving about in a "bewildered" manner, forced into a small space to be used or slaughtered. This bestial metaphor and the accompanying image of chaos contribute to the dehumanization of the working class, which occurred on a massive scale as industry increased exponentially in North America and Europe.
On the other hand, this metaphor of bestiality can be positively interpreted. Yes, these men are beasts in a cage, but their imprisonment is "baffled" "bewildered" and "furious," suggesting that they are aware of their imprisonment and did not enter complacently into a position of entrapment.
Explanation and Analysis—Baggage:
In the following passage, Yank explains to his fellow workers the idea that it is they, not the wealthy passengers on the ship, that are important to society. He uses metaphor to make this point to his audience:
YANK: Dey’re just baggage. Who makes dis old tub run? Ain’t it us guys? Well den, we belong, don’t we? We belong and dey don’t. Dat’s all.
Yank compares the people in upper class on the ship to "baggage," claiming that they are unimportant to the operation of the ship. This point of view is empowering to the working class, emphasizing the necessity of their work to the operation of society. The upper class, on the other hand, does not contribute at all, according to Yank. This metaphor upends classist, elitist rhetoric, deflating any arguments about the superior significance of wealthy individuals. They, Yank stresses, are the true people who belong in society, not the ultra-wealthy who profit off of those beneath them. Rather radically, this metaphor further undermines the authority of the upper class, fixing them as alien individuals who do not belong to the group. Without the working class, the bourgeoisie would be useless. They are only able to profit because they have people to profit off of, or so claims Yank.
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Explanation and Analysis—Industrialization:
In the following passage from Scene 1, Paddy delivers a monologue in opposition to the idea that men should make machines—in this instance, a ship—their home. In order to get across this sentiment, Paddy uses the following metaphor:
PADDY: Ho-ho, divil mend you! Is it to belong to that you’re wishing? Is it a flesh and blood wheel of the engines you’d be?
Paddy asks Yank how he pictures himself, crafting an image of a "flesh and blood wheel of the engines," a man fully integrated with the machinery. This metaphor reveals a great deal about Paddy's mindset: he views machines, and industrialization in general, as antagonistic to humanity. In the metaphor Paddy constructs, Yank would be simply a "flesh and blood wheel," forced to turn at the whim of the engines, lacking autonomy. In Paddy's imagination, the machines control mankind, not the other way around.
Paddy's stark opposition to technology places him in opposition to Yank, who believes that the working class must find a home within the industrial world and take charge of it. The two men are foils for one another, representing the push and pull of opinion between the older and younger generations that arises whenever modernity clashes with tradition.
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Explanation and Analysis—Nostalgia as a Drug:
In the following passage from Scene 1, Yank responds to Paddy's nostalgic monologue about not wanting to become part of the modern "machine." Believing Paddy's stance on the matter to be ridiculous, Yank writes him off as overly nostalgic, using metaphor to get his point across:
YANK: All dat crazy tripe about nights and days; all dat crazy tripe about stars and moons; all dat crazy tripe about suns and winds, fresh air and de rest of it—Aw hell, dat’s all a dope dream! Hittin’ de pipe of de past, dat’s what he’s doin’.
In the above passage, Yank compares Paddy's nostalgia for nature and the past to a "pipe" or a "dope dream." Nostalgia, according to Yank, is a heady drug that can cause keep some older people from recognizing what the present and future have to offer. Like a drug, nostalgia has the ability to alter a person's memory: through these rose-tinted glasses, people can imagine the past as whatever they most wish it to be. The future is unwritten, but the past is still there, able to be altered for a more favorable version of events. If Paddy sailed on a boat in 1720 instead of in 1920, his life would not be appreciably better than it is in the present moment—but nostalgia (like drug use) is surprisingly effective at altering reality.
Explanation and Analysis—Man as Machine:
After Paddy outlines his argument in Scene 1, Yank retaliates, providing an alternate stance to Patty's unrealistic nostalgia. Through metaphor, Yank explores the working-class man's relationship with industrialism:
YANK: I’m de ting in coal dat makes it boin; I’m steam and oil for de engines; I’m de ting in noise dat makes yuh hear it; I’m smoke and express trains and steamers and factory whistles; I’m de ting in gold dat makes money! And I’m what makes iron into steel! Steel, dat stands for de whole ting! And I’m steel—steel—steel! I’m de muscles in steel, de punch behind it!
In this passage, Yank uses a series of related metaphors not only to imply that he is at home within the machine, but that he views himself as part of it—inseparable from the steel and oil that make these machines function. He does this through the repeated use of "I'm," making his case to Paddy through a series of metaphors that are almost religious in nature. Yank's devotion to his work and to industry, while slightly more grounded in reality than Paddy's vision of the past, is strongly idealistic. This level of idealism leaves Yank vulnerable to exploitation and humiliation. He thinks better of himself and his fellow workers than the bourgeoisie above them; as a result, Yank receives a rude awakening when Mildred reacts to him with disgust.
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Explanation and Analysis—Capitalists:
In the following excerpt from Scene 1, Long goes on a tirade against the upper class, condemning them for making him and his working-class comrades "wage slaves" on the ship they work on. In the course of his rant, Long turns the "beast" motif on its head and uses metaphor, redirecting it to describe the exploitative behavior of the upper classes:
LONG: But what d’they care for the Bible—them lazy, bloated swine what travels first cabin? Them’s the ones. They dragged us down’til we’re on’y wage slaves in the bowels of a bloody ship, sweatin’, burnin’ up, eatin’ coal dust! Hit’s them’s ter blame—the damned Capitalist clarss!
Long emphasizes his disdain for the bourgeoisie through metaphor, stating that the first-class passengers traveling on the boat are "lazy, bloated swine." Curiously, Long and his fellow workers are "sweatin'" and "eatin' coal dust," but it is the first-class passengers and not the workers that are dirty enough to merit the title of "swine." Their dirtiness, according to Long, is a moral one, and this is because these members of the "Capitalist class" care nothing for the "Bible." Long holds up religion as a standard for moral virtue that the upper class is incapable of achieving.
It is important to note that this passage makes two allusions to Karl Marx's seminal communist texts, Das Kapital (trans. Capital) and the Communist Manifesto. The phrase "Capitalist class" and the term "wage slave" are both pulled from Marx's body of work.
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Scene Two
Explanation and Analysis—The Bessamer Process:
In the following excerpt, Mildred describes her place in the family business, relating steel production to her own production (or, to be more precise, to her own conception). She also presents the wealth she inherits as a hereditary trait. This complex metaphor reveals a great deal about her character:
MILDRED: Grandfather’s blast furnaces, flaming to the sky, melting steel, making millions—then father keeping those home fires burning, making more millions—and little me at the tail-end of it all. I’m a waste product in the Bessemer process—like the millions. Or rather, I inherit the acquired trait of the byproduct, wealth, but none of the energy, none of the strength of the steel that made it.
Mildred describes herself as non-instrumental in modern society, using metaphor to liken herself to a waste product. She specifically alludes to the Bessamer process, which was one of the first streamlined industrial processes for making and refining steel. While, according to Yank, the working class men are themselves steel, Mildred views herself simply as the refuse of this process: a purposeless bit of society to be discarded.
Similarly, Mildred views herself as having acquired the "byproduct" of her family's innovation and industry—that being wealth—but none of the energy or positive traits that would generate that byproduct. She views herself as the useless end terminus of her family line. Curiously, in spite of all of this, Mildred maintains her self-perceived superiority complex, specifically in relation to the working class men who are literally "below" her.
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