"Virtual warehousing of the young" (metaphor)
Carol references John’s theory of the “virtual warehousing of the young” in Act I. This metaphor is part of his broader vision of the higher education system, in which young people are forced to participate in school and be judged for their performance whether or not they feel a desire to learn. Ironically, Carol herself—a young person who very much wants to learn—feels threatened and confused by John’s class, and by his indirect, metaphorical language, such as this phrase.
“We can only interpret the behavior of others through the screen we create” (metaphor)
After Carol asks John why he wishes to be “personal” in their conversation, John responds, rather mysteriously, that people can see one another only through “the screen we create.” He explains this in fragments, while answering a phone call, making his contextual meaning all the more confusing, but the metaphor stands on its own as a meaningful idea. Carol and John, after all, see one another in distorted ways, through stereotypes and fears that each projects onto the other. Before their conflict even begins, John has accidentally invoked this central issue of interpretation.
Vomiting badness (metaphor)
While describing his fear of the tenure committee, John tells Carol that he feels an urge to vomit his “badness” before them. John feels instinctively that he is a deeply, even fundamentally, flawed person, and even claims to want a better understanding of his own flaws. By using the metaphor of vomit, he evokes a visceral, nearly automatic process of absolution and confession. However, when his flaws are eventually exposed to the tenure committee, they are done so by an external force rather than by John himself. This may be why John is so offended by Carol’s report: he feels an urge to share his secrets, but, instead, these secrets are shared by a third party, robbing him of the opportunity.
Education as a trial (simile)
When explaining his broader idea that higher education is similar to hazing, John argues that education should be more like a trial—while everyone is encouraged to go to school, nobody is encouraged to go to trial unless they have a need to defend themselves. Likewise, John says, higher education should only be for those who have a reason to undergo the difficult process. The metaphor of the trial, a more antagonistic process than a college class, proves to be potent: John himself eventually ends up playing the defendant in a trial of sorts, in which the tenure committee acts as a jury. In fact, as we learn at the end of the play, he may become a defendant in a real, legal trial if Carol chooses to press charges against him. John has a tendency to use metaphorical, grandiose speech, which often foreshadows literal occurrences in the play and in his life. This tendency shows us that John is somewhat disconnected from reality. He speaks poetically and freely, never considering the possibility that he will one day engage with these concepts in a concrete way.
