One major metaphor that is developed in the essay, The World and the Jug, is that the Negro culture being portrayed as functioning within an opaque, jug-like container. Ellison develops this metaphor, suggesting that Negro culture may in reality function within certain limits, but he also maintains that the so-called "jug" is transparent..... that Negroes can see beyond the confines of their experience and come to an awareness and understanding of that which is outside it.
Shadow and Act