Metaphor is a figure of speech and usually compared with similes. A simile uses the word “like” or “as” but a metaphor emphasizes and brings together different concepts. Many writers use metaphors to give us a vivid picture by comparing to something else.

Authors use metaphors to help convey and help us understand what they are trying to say. It makes reading more interesting for the reader and stimulates them while reading to make it more enjoyable to them. Its used to add color to many literature works.

Metaphor:

1: a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (as in drowning in money); broadly: figurative language — compare simile

2: an object, activity, or idea treated as a metaphor:

For example:

“His green eyes were gleaming the color of pure jade.”

An example in Oryx and Crake snowman says, “I was telling him,” says Snowman, “that you ask too many questions.” He holds his watch to his ear. “And he’s telling me that if you don’t stop doing that, you’ll be toast.” The quote you’ll be toast is like saying they will be in trouble because they are bothering him.

Another from Oryx and Crake Snowman is said to be “a creature of darkness, of the dusk” (Atwood 6). This makes us question and we saw how he was living in the shadows.

Metaphor.Merriam-Webster.com.2017.https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metaphor(20 April 2018)

Metaphor. Grammarly Blog.2018. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/metaphor. (20 April 2018)

Atwood, Margaret, 1939-. Oryx And Crake : a Novel. New York :Nan A. Talese, 2003. E-book.