Metaphor Analysis

The Women of Brewster Place

 

Superficial Level	Metaphorical/Interpretative	Evidence from the Text, the World, & other Literature
Time’s passage through the memory is like molten glass	Time and one’s memories have an irregular, but unstoppable flow ...	At middle age, when Mattie arrives at Brewster Place, seeing a simple house plant transports her back in time to the first event that set her on this long journey
that can be opaque or crystallize at any given moment at will: a thousand days can are melted into one conversation, one glance, one hurt, ...	Some memories are incomplete or cloudy, while others create a dramatic focal point in one’s life	... As Mattie stares sadly at the ramshackle apartment, a memory of her first night at Miss Eva’s home, a home that she loved for many years, with its smells, its warmth and its love is in sharp focus in her mind’s eye, and a tear rolls down her cheek.
... and one hurt can be shattered and sprinkled over a thousand days.	... sometimes, one event or one moment can leave an indelible mark that lasts a lifetime	Although many of Mattie’s days have "melted together" and are undistinguished in her mind, Basil’s conscious choice to jump bail, knowing Mattie would lose her home because of it, is an agony that she will carry in her memory and her heart for the rest of her life.
It is silent and elusive, refusing to be dammed and dripped out day by day; it swirls through the mind while an entire lifetime can ride like foam on the deceptive, transparent waves and get sprayed onto the consciousness at ragged, unexpected intervals.	This suggests how time can sneak past so quickly, it cannot be held or stopped, and memories of events and emotions can crop up at the most unexpected times	Mattie wonders where the years have gone, wasn’t it just yesterday that Basil was a loving child? After all of these years, how can these memories and tears be so fresh, and her dreams seem so distant?
Conclusion / Summary / Statement of Writer’s Intent / Questions Posed . . . This metaphor could be applied to many of the women of Brewster Place . . .those unexpected, but definitive events in their lives that stole or altered their dreams. Is Naylor’s mixed metaphor purposeful? Time’s passage turns from molten glass to waves? (fluidity?)