How does the author use metaphor in the novel, A Torch Against the Night?

Throughout the novel, the author uses physical darkness to symbolize the metaphorical darkness of the Empire’s evil. For example, Part III is titled “The Dark Prison” in reference to Kauf. Kauf is literally dark, as it is dimly lit (a detail which becomes important in the protagonists’ escape from the prison), but it is also dark in the sense of being disturbing and sinister. For example, Elias discusses his nightmares with Tas and notes that they are connected by “the darkness and evil that others perpetrate upon us” (313). The physical darkness of nighttime and sleep is thus translated into the symbolic darkness of the torture that has been inflicted on both Tas and Elias. Helene’s father also uses the symbol of darkness to describe Helene’s duty to the Empire. He reminds her that there are over six million citizens of the Empire, and that Helene is the only thing standing between these people and the “darkness” of the “torment of war” (422). This symbol works in conjunction with the central symbol of war – Cain describes Helene as a “torch against the night,” in contrast to most people who are simply “glimmers in the great darkness of time” (267). The symbol of fire as representing power and goodness is repeatedly contrasted with the symbol of darkness, which represents absence and pain.