In The Ashes Metaphors

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Sabaa Tahir uses a number of literary devices throughout her book, An Ember in the Ashes. A metaphor can be found on almost every other page, yet they all hold great meaning. There is one collection of metaphors that is repeated multiple times throughout the story. “The field of battle is my temple. The swordpoint is my priest. The dance of death is my prayer. The killing blow is my release” (Tahir 11). This gives insight to the world that the characters inhabit. They are so desensitized to death and murder that a place where blood is viciously spilled gives them peace, that they worship what takes life away, that a violent fight brings enlightenment, and that the death of a living being releases all of the pent up anger and frustration. Another literary device that Tahir uses is dramatic irony. Sprinkled throughout her book are frustrating cases where characters are being so naive and the readers know how all of the pieces fit together. Elias and his best friend Helene were trained at Blackcliff, a deadly military academy, together. Even though they have survived beatings and thieving, they still cannot seem to read each other. The leader of Blackcliff, the Commandment, gets a new slave to whom Elias …show more content…
An ember in a pile of ashes represents something new or something rising up from a difficult situation. The ember represents hope for a better life, a new day, or just a little bit of warmth. “‘... As long as there is life, there is hope”’ (Tahir 368). When there is an ember, then there is hope and possibility. Hope is some of the only sustenance that Elias and Laia seem to have throughout the entire story. These two characters are beaten, whipped, ambushed, kidnapped, and forced to lose all sense of themselves, but they are alive so they have hope to create a better life where they can be free of torment and the overpowering dictatorship called the

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