Alien French (Metaphor)
The boy listens to the teacher talking, and then he suddenly realizes that the Teacher talks French. Although his native language was Сreole, his family also speaks French, but the language that the Teacher speaks is absolutely unknown for him. He can barely understand it, and not only he, his classmates also: “his language didn’t reach out to the children”. Before that moment the boy thought that the Creole language and French have a lot in similar, but now he is confused, he realized that he didn’t know this language and it scares him, because the Teacher who is supposed to give knowledge speaks the language he doesn’t understand.
The Light Shed by Wisdom on Benighted Minds (Metaphor)
The Teacher spoke about how lucky the children are because they have the “golden” opportunity to study in a public school, and this opportunity should not be wasted. They should be thankful that they are sitting here and listening to him, time-to-time he stopped to see what effect has his oration, but children were motionless and kept their heads down. They just didn’t understand what he is talking about. There were a lot of unknown words that has no effect, the boy was disappointed, he didn’t expect that there will be so much unknown for him, and how can he study if the Teacher talks such incomprehensible words and is not interested to teach them.
The Boy is Like a Wilted Flower (Simile)
The little boy was frustrated and disappointed; he longed for school because he thought that it is the great place where you can become smart and talented and learn as much as you can perceive, but as it happened, he was mistaken. His teacher spoke the language he could barely understand, there were so many taboos that he didn’t know what is actually allowed there. He didn’t want to go to school anymore, but it was too late to change anything and now he doesn’t dare to say his mother that he hates to go to school, that is why “he looks like a wilted flower and he can’t do anything with that”.
The School Is a New World without Nap Time (Metaphor)
The boy is sitting in the classroom, the room is familiar and threatening for him like the Teacher is. He is exhausted and wants to have a nap. He remembers that at this time he usually had a nap when he was going to the nursery school. But now he goes to the real school and he is not allowed to do that. The real school is another world where you should obey strict rules and be calm and attentive to what teacher says, otherwise you will be punished.
Hercules and His Herd (Metaphor)
The Teacher did really a titanic work to teach his children at least anything. Lesson after lesson he constantly repeated the same words to teach children how to pronounce sounds correctly. But it was extremely hard for students to learn that, because they didn’t understand why the way they and their parents speak is wrong. The “unfortunate” teacher tried to do his best to explain but at last he understood that he was “tripped by barbarians” and all his efforts were in vain.
Surviving and Dying at the Same Time (Metaphor)
After being punished in the Director’s office the little boy understood that in order to survive he should keep silent; he knew that no one could help him and it estranged him from his family. He no longer trusted others, even his parents, he didn’t open with his close people, he learned “to leave some space between what his heart felt and what his mouth said” – it meant surviving for him, as well as dying at the same time.
