The Extended Simile to Describe the Remains of the Dog
One of the last bits of metaphorical language engaged by the narrator to enhance the full dimension of his story is a particularly complex extended simile in which what remains of the dog following the climax looked “as if he had been kicked into a fire by a horse and afterwards rolled in the dust under a barrow, and finally thrown against the fence from a distance.” The extension of imagery successfully serves several purposes. In terms of narrative, it creates a concrete picture of just how unpleasant the animal appeared. The layering of detail upon detail in order to effectively communicate the full unsavory image speaks to the long tradition of tall tales and almost unbelievable events that shaped the taming of any frontier society. In terms of details—while palpable—it also maintains the emotional register of humorous telling that is detached, but still aware and observant.
How Do You Convey a Pain Most People Will Never Experience?
Similes are ideal for drawing a comparison between two seemingly unrelated concepts for the purpose of revealing a parallel that lets the reader discover something they didn’t know based on something they do know. Lawson wisely avoids pure metaphor when trying to explain to readers who have no concept of what occurs when human flesh makes direct contact with the sharp, spiky material that gives catfish their name. Instead, he compares the “experience” of the pain of being pricked by a catfish as roughly “like a toothache” so bad you can’t even get to sleep for two days. While a minority of readers may be familiar with what a catfish pricking your hand feels like, the pain of a toothache is practically universal and immediately recognizable enough to create empathy for the character.
Metaphor Through Personification
Metaphors and similes are often treated as entirely interchangeable except for the necessity of the “as” or “like” in the case of the simile, but that is not grammatically correct. The use of either “as” or “like” is necessary because the simile exists for the purpose of comparison. Metaphors are usually engaged for the purpose of comparison as well, but not exclusively. The greater semantic fluidity of the metaphor is demonstrated with a purpose by Lawson in the phrase, “The dog grinned sardonically down on him.” Clearly, there is no comparison being made between one thing and another so a simile would not be appropriate here. Nevertheless, this is an example of a metaphor because it also an example of personification, another metaphorical device. The choice is an efficient one for Lawson because his choice of “sardonic” as the means of attributing human traits to the dog is precise and unambiguous. Through that indirect metaphor, the dog’s personality is established beyond all doubt.
The Dog as Metaphor
The cumulative effect of the experience the men have with the dog eventually serves to cast Tommy as a metaphorical figure in his own right. The dog may be sardonic by nature, but he is also dangerously wild and unpredictable. The episode in which the man are sent running haphazardly in search of shelter from the unknown consequences of Tommy impulsively grabbing the explosive cartridge in his mouth and running without much purpose as dogs are likely to cast him as the ideal metaphor for life in the Australian bush. Here, unpredictability and danger become a daily experience whether you have a dog with explosives in his mouth or not.
Metaphor as Translation
While it’s fun to view metaphorical language as a special literary device set aside for extraordinary comparisons or parallels, sometimes a metaphor is an effective shorthand to ensure readers don’t have to work too hard. An example occurs very early when the narrator offhandedly informs the uninformed reader that the descriptive term “sausage” is used as a colloquial bit of jargon to describe the act of wrapping canvas around a cartridge of blasting powder. The metaphor translates the look of the end result in a way nearly as universally understood as a toothache.
