Thoreau included the following sentence in Walden:
"There is some of the same fitness in a man's building his own house that there is in a bird's building its own nest."
Which of the following statements rephrases his literal comparison as a metaphor?
A. A man building his house is like a bird building his nest.
B. A man's house is his nest.
C. Every bird is an architect and builder of a nest.
D. Between a human house and an avian nest, there is absolutely no difference in architectural skill.
I believe D is the correct answer choice.
D has no metaphor in it.
http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_M.html
Scroll down to Metaphor, and read carefully.
Oh, okay. So A and D cannot be it.
C would be my next choice, based on the quote.
Either B or C ... which one is closer to the overall sentiment of the quote?
The correct answer choice that rephrases Thoreau's literal comparison as a metaphor is actually B: "A man's house is his nest."
To understand why, let's first break down the literal comparison in Thoreau's sentence: "There is some of the same fitness in a man's building his own house that there is in a bird's building its own nest."
Essentially, Thoreau is drawing a parallel between a man building his own house and a bird building its own nest. In this literal comparison, he is emphasizing the similarity in the appropriate and fitting nature of these actions.
Now, let's look at the answer choices:
A. "A man building his house is like a bird building his nest." This choice simply restates the literal comparison without turning it into a metaphor.
B. "A man's house is his nest." This choice captures the essence of Thoreau's literal comparison and transforms it into a metaphor. It implies that a man's house serves as a comfortable and secure place for him, just as a nest provides these qualities for a bird.
C. "Every bird is an architect and builder of a nest." This statement focuses solely on the bird's action of building a nest and does not extend the comparison to a man building his own house. Therefore, it is not a correct rephrasing of the metaphor.
D. "Between a human house and an avian nest, there is absolutely no difference in architectural skill." This choice does not rephrase the literal comparison as a metaphor; instead, it introduces a new statement suggesting that there is no difference in architectural skill between a human house and an avian nest.
Therefore, the correct answer choice that rephrases Thoreau's literal comparison as a metaphor is B: "A man's house is his nest."