If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Lessing uses metaphor to describe how living beings embody natural elements in distinct forms. Fish embody water movement, while cats embody air patterns.
- In plain terms
- Fish show how water moves, and cats show how air moves in subtle ways.
- What can you take from it?
- Living creatures can represent the essence of natural elements.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do animals reflect their environments?
- What does it mean to embody an element?
Another view
Metaphors are subjective and may not reflect biological reality.
More from Doris Lessing
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Permalink to quote #4 It is terrible to destroy a person's picture of himself in the interests of truth or some other abstraction.
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