A metaphor is a comparison that does not
use the word "like" or "as."
"Night of the
Scorpion," by Nissim Ezekiel, does not use a great number of metaphors. Most of the
poem consists of straightforward description of what the people did and what they said
in attempting to cure the narrator's mother of a scorpion
bite.
One metaphor that is used is: "I watched the holy man
perform his rites / to tame the poison with an incantation." The rituals of the holy
man are compared to to the taming of a wild animal.
Another
one is used when the father tries to cure the bite by putting a lit match on the bite.
The narrator says, "I watched the flame feeding on my mother." A flame, of course, does
not actually "feed" or eat; rather, the poet is comparing the fire to a living being
that consumes food.
There is an important simile in the
poem; i.e., a comparison that does use the word "like" or
"as."
The
peasants came like swarms of flies and buzzed the name of God a hundred times to
paralyse the Evil One.
By
comparing the peasants to "swarms of flies," the narrator seems to belittle their
"medical" methods for curing the bite. The narrator seems to side more with his father
who is "sceptic [and] rational."
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