A metaphor is the comparison of two concepts that are objectively unrelated to each other but in context of a larger work can in fact be related and thus make the writing richer. Metaphors make the narrative being told more interesting because they are ambiguity creates many possible interpretations, and each interpretation can change how the audience reads and perceives the story which adds extra layers to the overall plot.
For instance, in Sula by Toni Morrison, Nel starts to see a gray ball after catching her husband having an affair with her best friend. The gray ball is described as “a ball of muddy strings” and “without weight” so I think it symbolizes her sense of self at that moment. One thing that stands out to me about any ball of strings is how completely knotted it must be but once it is untied a little bit on one end, the whole thing falls apart. Similarly, after Nel finds out that her husband cheated on her, she feels like her sense of self is unraveling because she may not know who she is without Jude. Her life before finding out about the affair is like the knotted up ball of strings, completely entwined with Jude and Sula but after she finds out about the affair, it’s almost like someone tugged on one end of that string to untie it and now the whole knot, just like Nel’s life and sense of self, is coming apart. This gray ball in the novel also keeps following her around which could mean that the loss she is experiencing is taking over her life and her identity. She tries to ignore the unraveling ball which could mean she is trying to be in denial but the gray ball never seems to leave her sight.
I think this metaphor helps the reader really understand Nel’s current state of mind with a lot more clarity and depth than simply writing out would have. This metaphor adds another dimension to complex feelings like grief and loss of identity in a fictional character so that the readers can almost feel like they are in the mind of the character and understand their inner conflicts.
The image I have chosen is a purple ball of string instead of gray and it looks very neat and clean compared to how I pictured it when reading this novel which was definitely more dirty and had the dullest gray color but it still somewhat represents the aforementioned idea of unraveling.