Education Inequality
Castro resorts to a familiar simile to create a comparison for the inequality that exists in the American education system. Familiar it may be, but that does not mean it is any less effective at conveying a fundamental truth about getting ahead in America:
“It is painful to think of a kid forced to swim upstream, only to arrive at the same spot as somebody who had the opportunity placed in front of him.”
The Trump Years in a Nutshell
Another example of familiarity breeding not contempt is a proverbial metaphor which Castro is in this case is specifically applying to the Trump immigration policy. It is easy enough to extricate the metaphorical commentary from that specificity and apply it broadly but equally to any number of other policies pursued by the Trump administration:
“Regardless of political affiliation, there was a widespread feeling that an American ideal had been desecrated. This was a wake-up call for the nation.”
Metaphor as Disaster
One of the strange things about metaphor is how often some of the worst possible literal consequences stem from a particular cause which has been made to seem less malevolent through metaphor. This quirk of figurative language becomes intricately tied to the career of Castro as a result of his appointment to a Cabinet position:
“When I became HUD [Dept. of Housing and Urban Development] secretary, the country, and the world, was still recovering from the financial crisis triggered by the bursting of the housing bubble.”
Catholic School
Castro continues his march through the land mines of familiar figurative language without stepping on a bomb that explodes in hackneyed and trite imagery when he discusses his formative years attending a school taught by nuns. Jokes about the cruelty of nuns go way back, but for a subject that is really not that funny when you think about it, Castro manages to paint a picture easily understood without falling victim to being too trite:
“The Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate wielded wooden rules like world-class fencers.”
Character Counts
Castro’s book was published in coincidence with the run-up to his attempt to secure the Democratic nomination for President in 2020. That failed, of course, but the book laid a solid groundwork for setting Castro at odds with Donald Trump on every single issue of consequence facing America, including how to behave like politician:
“Trump hit the established world of American politics like a rogue wave, obliterating almost all political precedent.”
