Physical Transformation
Metaphor is not used extensively in this story, but it is used for an array of different purposes. One of the most common uses of the comparison offered by the simile is to reveal a change in the physical condition of a character, especially as the result of psychological trauma. And that use is very effectively engaged when Horton sees Mayzie for the first time since she flew the coop and left him sitting atop the egg:
“Poor Horton looked up with his face white as chalk!”
Action
Action is also well-suited for the introduction of metaphorical imagery. The bulk of the action in this story occurs during the sequence when Horton and his egg are captured by the hunters to be sold to the circus. It is a long, harrowing journey and a simple simile is perfectly suggestive:
“After bobbing around for two weeks like a cork, They landed at last in the town of New York.”
Emotional Devastation
The emotional devastation that comes over Horton upon the return of Mayzie into the narrative just at the moment he’s been waiting all year to arrive is portrayed very simply with a familiar metaphorical image. That simplicity does not detract from the devastation, but rather underscores its universality:
“Poor Horton backed down
With a sad, heavy heart”
The Excitement of the Crowd
Simplicity is likewise used to convey the excited state of those onlookers lucky enough to witness the hatching of the egg. The simplicity in this case is juxtaposed with the more outlandish non-metaphorical imagery of what comes out of the hatched egg:
“They looked! And they stared with their eyes popping out!”
Complex Metaphor
The use of metaphor in the story is for the most part stripped down and simple, designed to serve an essential and precise purpose. There is one metaphor, however, that is quite complex; too complex to be relegated merely to symbol. What does hatch out of that egg winds up being far more surprising and unexpected that it should possibly ever be. It is described as a something entirely new to the world, “an elephant-bird.” It is an impossible hybrid of nature and nurture that partly resembles its biological mother and partly resembles its adoptive father. The complexity of this hybridization of that which nature produces and that which is produced by the attentiveness of other living creatures is very complex, but should be easy enough to apprehend.
