Cornered
A character is cornered like a trapped animal and richly metaphorical language is engaged to bring her reaction fully to life.
“The teacher bristled. A snakelike movement of her hair uncoiled it from its bun. Her flushed face darkened to the color of a beet, veins trained out of her neck like ropes and foam bubbled at the corners of her mouth.”
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence is a matter of course in the lives of these characters. To bring the full reality of that cruelty and evil to life often requires the implementation of figurative language:
“I belt descended as I leaped. I held it in my hand and Calvin swung me like pendulum…the action claimed him, relieved of his anger, although his thinned lips were still ringed with ash, his eyes still bulged like those of a madman.”
School
School is an ordeal for everybody at one point or another. Some of the greatest metaphorical language in our history can be attributed to the feelings impressed upon us during school. Such as:
“I felt a dozen needles sticking in my stomach. I leaned back in my seat. The fingernails of the girl behind me dug into my back. `Teacher’s pet,’ she hissed.
Scary Fun
The subway is the kind of transport perfectly created for enthusing with metaphorical description. The author efficiently conveys both the terror and thrill of the experience to a newbie:
“Being on the train like being closed up in darkness, but as we roared uptown, the newness of the ride made everything exciting.”
Ragamuffin
Generally speaking, ragamuffin is a word not filled with specifically negative connotations. It began as a word used pejoratively against those wearing rags to denote their poorness, but over time as it has been become less charged and likely to be used as an attribution to a raggedy bunch of kids. Here, however, the word is fully charged with negative association as it becomes a metaphor “which Calvin used in talking about the people of Harlem when he wanted to offend.”
