“But Lucy Audley would not make war. She carried forward the sum of her dislike, and put it out at a steady rate of interest, until the breach between her step-daughter and herself widening a little every day, became a great gulf utterly impassable by olive-branch-bearing doves, from either side of the abyss. There can be no reconciliation when there is no open warfare. There must be a battle, a brave boisterous battle, with pennants waving and cannon roaring, before there can be peaceful treaties and enthusiastic shaking of hands. Perhaps the union between France and England owes it greatest force to the recollection of bygone conquest and defeat. We have hated each other and licked each other and had it out, as the common phrase goes, and we can afford now to fall into each other’s arms and vow eternal friendship and everlasting brotherhood. Let us hope that when Northern Yankeydom has decimated and been decimated, blustering Jonathan may fling himself upon his Southern brother’s breast, forgiving and forgiven” (248-249).
This passage describes the way the mounting dislike between Lucy and Alicia and their refusal to talk it out with each other prevents them from being friends. It begins with the concrete description of Lucy’s dislike of Alicia, and transitions into a more figurative description of this fight between them. There is a single main metaphor at work in this passage that relates war in general to the ongoing, yet mostly underground, battle between Lucy and Alicia. The “great gulf” is a metaphor for the battle between Lucy and Alicia that has separated them over time. “France” and “England,” as well as “Northern Yankyedom” and “Jonathan,” are metaphors for Lucy and Alicia, respectively. The structure of the phrase “decimated and been decimated” is repeated later in the sentence with “forgiving and forgiven,” which helps to connect the two clauses. There is also some strange diction with the the word “licked.” In this context, it means “defeated,” but it is rather uncommon today to see it used with this definition. Additionally, it is a strange word choice for the sentence it is used in because of the conventional use of the word. This passage represents Lucy’s sly and careful attitude that she keeps as Lady Audley; just as she is careful not to show outright dislike of Alicia, she is always careful to preserve a perfect facade that doesn’t betray her secret to anyone.
this is a great metaphor to focus on, and i like what you’re saying about the syntactic repetition between “decimated and been decimated” and “forgiving and forgiven.” i think you could say more about the implications of the metaphor–what does it tell us about lady audley and alicia that they are like the north and the south in the US civil war, or England and France (which were at war for much of the early 19th century)?