The
onion is an illuminating bulb. But only by peeling its many layers, can one
reveal whether it has a sweet heart or a rotten core.
Suspense: thy metaphor is onion!
The
onion is used metaphorically to describe
sequentially removable layers that conceal an important something. That
is, when we use a metaphor involving an onion - such as "peeling
away another layer" - we visualize a central concept (a heart
or core) that is buried beneath an organized series of
increasingly central issues or arguments.
One
progresses inward in understanding from surface issues to deeper
truths. When we "get to the bottom" of something - finding
its "root" or "kernel" of truth - we are
finally exposing that which is most shielded from view. This differs from
"opening one's eyes" or "letting some fresh air in", in that
the onion offers a series of seemingly valid mistruths, rather
than a singular misconception. This also differs from a "higher
truth" in that each step in
a heightened
understanding does not
totally invalidate the prior; rather, it reveals that it was simply incomplete.
There
is nothing of material value between each layer of a metaphorical onion: it is
treated as skin upon skin, fortification upon fortification. When an "onion
of a story" is formed, we beckon for that certain something that one is
"hiding from us", "not letting us in
on", "not disclosing" or "not revealing".
We will approach the matter "from another angle",
in the hopes that this will reveal underlying issues or help us
gain further insight. And we may often angrily say "chaff!"
when rejecting a given unwanted layer, as if an onion is a scintilla of
nutritious truth surrounded by unwanted, unpalatable, irritating dross. In
the onion metaphor, that which is not deemed the central truth has no lasting
value.
The
difference in metaphorical tone between a "shell", and its singular
breakable encapsulation, and "onion" and its many concentric
strippable encapsulations, is one of simple fortification versus duplicity.
Compare the "just under the surface" nature of a hidden truth
behind such metaphors as "blanket", "cover",
"veneer" or "shield" with the intrigue offered
by the many layers of an onion, each layer a wee bit "closer to the
truth". There is far more suspense to the Dance of the Seven Veils
than there is to a towel falling off.
The
onion is commonly used as both a metaphor and a simile, with little - if
any - difference in the example it sets. It is emptied of its strong flavor,
medicinal value or tear-causing reputation and used as an exclusively geometric
form.
Unlike
many fruity metaphors, the onion is not used as if bearing a central nutrition
or seed of life under a simple, necessary level of protection, but rather
as a series of false cores, the end of which is likely to offer a truth that is
often not so palatable. While the
veils of a strip-tease may necessitate a journey through undesirable layers
towards the desirable beautiful core, an ugly corporate secret may be veiled
away beneath layer upon layer of progressively less-beautiful mistruths.
The duality of the veil is that it can both uglify the beautiful and beautify
the ugly. The veil is that layer of onion - flimsy and translucent enough to beg
for a deeper investigation.
The
onion, then, describes the progression, rather than the destination;
requiring a separate tone to distinguish the nature or value of the destination
itself. It is a road - a choppy road to an uncertain, secluded
destination. Whether a journey along this road results in good news or in bad
news, it always results in truth, however dicey.
The
onion is the stripper of metaphors -
layer upon layer of mystique with no certain end. The truth is, it is the
journey to the core that makes the tease.
Back to "A Language of
Metaphors"
Back to Metaphor
Examples
Notes: Onion = striptease/Dance of the Seven Veils = duplicity = n-|skin| =
~laminate = concentric encapsulation = stratified truth...
Related concepts and metaphors: unravel, (inner) sanctum, investigate,
buffering,
