The Metaphor

Title: The Metaphor
Author: Budge Wilson


Biography:

Budge Wilson was born in Halifax, in the year 1927. She attended Dalhousie University and the University of Toronto, where she eventually moved. In her early years, Budge worked many other jobs, including working as a commercial artist, photographer, and even as a fitness instructor, and she didn’t start writing until much later in her life. Since the beginning publishing of her first book, in 1984, Budge Wilson has published 32 books, with some of her works translated into 10 different languages and sold in 13 different countries. She has also won many awards for her writing, including the Mayor’s Award for Cultural Achievement in Literature in Halifax, 23 Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice" selections, and, in 1983, her short story “The Metaphor,” received second prize in the Chatelaine annual writing contest. Her most recent achievements include authoring the prequel to Anne of Green Gables, “Before Green Gables,” and becoming a member of the Order of Canada.


Symbol

A cigarette is a good symbol for this story because Charlotte, the protagonist, has to make the decision between the options of having long term happiness and short term pain, or short term happiness and long term pain. She must choose between becoming friends again with Miss Hancock and risking being made fun of, or ignoring Miss Hancock and being content for a short while. Similarly, when one is making the decision between smoking and not smoking, they must face the two options of either having long term happiness, by not starting the very addictive drug, or short term happiness, by smoking, getting their high, and possibly not being under any more peer pressure. 

Response

1. a) I believe Miss Hancock found it easier to teach in junior high school because grade 7-9 students often do not yet have concrete ideas of how things should be run or how people should act, so if someone of higher authority introduces an idea that appeals to them, they are more likely to change one of their ideas to accommodate for this newly introduced one. However, in senior high school, students have had more time to solidify their ideas and where they stand socially. They are also trying to be more independent, so when someone tries to introduce new ideas or new ways of doing things to them, they are more likely to try and protect their existing ideas before thinking  of and allowing them to change.

b) I have not noticed many changes in teachers from grades 7-10. This is most likely because our school is unlike most others, and also I am only beginning my tenth year so I have not had much time to experience most of the differences of Grade 10 from grades 7-9.

3. Charlotte is not correct in blaming herself for Miss Hancock’s death because Miss Hancock would most definitely had other problems in her life besides her humiliating class, however, I do understand Charlotte wondering where the tipping point was for Miss Hancock and whether she could have been able to stop Miss Hancock from taking her life by showing her support for her, just as Miss Hancock had once tried to do for her.

4. a) The metaphorical description for Charlotte’s mother was similar to the actual character of Charlottes mother because the building Charlotte described, portrayed a beautiful looking place with machines taking the majority of the work in the office, resulting in extreme efficiency , however also resulting in a lack of emotion and life. The actual character of Charlotte’s mother was a beautiful woman, who sacrificed much of her emotion, to keep order and efficiency. She could be relied upon to complete a task to near perfection, but for comfort and encouragement was as good as a “machine.” A difference between the metaphor of Charlotte’s mother and the actual mother is that the most efficient of machines would have concluded that comfort and encouragement, in the long run, would be more efficient and cause less problems than coldness and dissatisfaction. Charlotte’s mother was unable to come to this conclusion.

b) The metaphorical description for Miss Hancock was similar to the real Miss Hancock because, although the cake was not perfect it was crafted in the best intentions of being delicious and sweet. Similarly, Miss Hancock did have flaws, but always had the best intentions of trying to help others and have the most positive influence she could have on another. The outside of the cake was a bit chaotic, and nearly made one walk away in a fit of giggles, however, if one restrained and stopped to taste the cake she or he would most certainly enjoy it. Miss Hancock also seemed to be a bit chaotic in her appearance but if one still put in the effort to get to know her they would surely love her. A difference, however, in the metaphorical description of Miss Hancock when compared to the real character, is in the description of the cake there was no sign of any vulnerability or the ability to destroy itself. In the story, Miss Hancock loses all her self-respect largely because of her grade ten English class and ends up killing herself.

5. What do you think was the author’s main purpose for writing this story? Discuss.

I think the author’s main purpose for writing this story was to remind the readers of how much of an impact some of our seemingly small actions can have on other people. There are two large examples of this in the novel. By teaching what she loves, and sharing her enthusiasm of writing with her class, Miss Hancock changes the way many of the students think and opens their worlds new all new kinds of ideas. She especially changes the life of Charlotte, the protagonist of the story. The second example of how our actions can have a large impact on people, is when Charlotte is in the tenth grade and ignores Miss Hancock, who is having a difficult time coping with the humiliation created by the class, and Charlotte shows Miss Hancock none of the pity or love she feels for her. Miss Hancock eventually steps in front of a school bus.

Critical Thinking

i) Why do you think the author wrote the text?

The author wrote the text in the hope to remind people that our seemingly small actions can have a much larger impact, on another, than we expect. She wants us to question how we interact with our friends and strangers and wonder whether our actions and the things we say have a positive or negative influence them.

ii) What does the author want you to think?

The author wants us to think of how Charlotte refused to show her love and appreciation for Miss Hancock, because of her want to have respect from her classmates, and the author wants us to wonder if we might be doing this, consciously or not, to anyone in our lives. The author also wants us to realize that we should not take people in our lives for granted, that at any moment they could be taken away. So we should always strive to show our appreciation for our loved ones, so we won’t regret not saying or doing something for them once they have moved on.

iii) Do you belong to any of the groups in the text?

I think I belong to the group Charlotte is in and I believe one would be hard-pressed to find a teenager who does not also often find themselves in this group. Charlotte is very self-concious throughout most of her grade ten year, and this leads to her ignoring her friend and someone she loves, which, in turn, has its consequences. Similarly, I have found myself (as I believe most teenagers have) not wanting to do something, like socialize with my family and/or extended family because, for a bizarre reason,  I think my social status will be lowered if I am seen spending time with my family. If I end up being able to avoid spending time with my family, I will be contented for the moment, however in the long-run I will realize that those moments are lost opportunities to bond with the ones closest to me. Although Charlotte’s story may have a more drastic ending, I don’t think hers is too uncommon of a story.

iv) Does the story remind you of a real-life event (your own or others)?

Before I was born, and before he and his life retired, my grandfather was also an English teacher. He thoroughly enjoyed his job teaching English 12, he knew the curriculum and the teachers well, and the students loved him. However, similar to the story of “The Metaphor,” my grandfather was doing such a good job, he was transferred to another, tougher school, where he now had to teach grade eight. He did not know the curriculum well or the teachers very well, he no longer had his teaching reputation as a great teacher and as a result of his lost reputation he did not get the same respect from his grade eights as he did from his grade 12’s. Much of the joy of teaching started to vanish. His stress and unhappiness with his new job built and built and he started to feel there was no way to get back to the joy he had once had teaching grade 12. He started to contemplate suicide. Later, he said the only thing that prevented him from jumping when he was standing atop a cliff on the outskirts of Nanaimo ,was that there were too many tourists, and he didn’t want them to have to bear witness to his death. So he had to wait. Luckily, he was talked out of taking any attempt on his life before the tourists cleared away. I find this parallels the story “The Metaphor” in many ways, and if people had maybe given more thought to the way my grandfather felt, just as if people had given more thought to how Miss Hancock felt, the both of them might have not had to go through the depression in their life.

v) Does the story remind you of another book or movie on a similar topic?

This story reminds me of a book, which is not quite of a similar topic, but the protagonist of this novel seems to display what, in my mind, is the perfect attitude when under peer-pressure. Paul Atreides, of the book “Dune,” has the attitude of a machine when it comes to making decisions over anything, including his social life. He analyzes all the options that lay before him, finds which one will benefit him most in the long-term, and chooses that option. He knows that in the grand scheme of things, choosing the long-term option will be the most efficient and beneficial. As a result, in the novel, his social life is very successful. If we could all take a bit of Paul’s social attitude we would come to realize that taking the long-term option is nearly always the best, and this would often include being kind and keeping our old friends, as well as making new ones.

vi) How does the story help you think about social issues and social justice?

The story helps me think about social issues because it gives us insight into why somebody would purposely ignore another and why he or she would leave a strong friendship for what could seem like no reason. We watch Charlotte abandon her and Miss Hancock’s friendship to try and fit into a new school. Charlotte has to deal with the pressure from her peers and in the end deals with the pressure in the wrong way, however, in doing so, she presents us with a valuable lesson about the social issue of “peer-pressure.” We are shown that giving up what you know is right for what other people want, gives you short term happiness, but if you stay with what you know is right, this will provide you with long-term joy.

vii) What action might you take from what you have learned?

I will try and evaluate my own social life and see if I am letting my own beliefs or my conscience succumb to my want for other’s respect. If I do find a place where I am doing this, which I’m sure I’ll find many, I will try and find a way to keep the person as a friend, or whatever their relation might be to me, but now show them that I will not let my conscience  be tossed aside for their humour or pleasure.

viii) What big question has this text left you with?

Did Charlotte’s mother act the way she did because she, like her daughter, was self-conscious about what other people might think or say about her? And to relate that to the bigger picture, is this self-consciousness in people as common among adults as teenagers, just adults mask it under “maturity,” or do we lose our silly worries as we become older?