Each to Each by Seanan Mcguire Short Story Analysis Essay

“Each To Each” is a detailed short story written by Seanan McGuire. “Each to Each” is not just any short story, but a short story that has an extremely deep meaning. This short story is about leaving a person's human nature in the past and finding that person's self through fighting the urge to become a piece of the sea. In “Each to Each '', the short story showed the intentions of those in power as they changed humans into super-human, and how women came together in a world run by men. “Each to Each” gives numerous examples of figurative language. The short also serves as a representation of the physical, mental, and emotional changes women must endure to be considered, useful, and beneficial to society.

In the second paragraph on page one of “Each to Each”, the author Seanan McGuire, states “The heartbeat of the ship follows me through the iron halls(McGuire 1)…” This quotation is an example of personification. The reason why this quote is an example of personification is because it gives human traits to an object that is not human. The “heartbeat of the ship follows me through the iron halls,” means that she feels the ship, and how the character in the story is sensitive to the sound of the ship. Another example of personification in the second paragraph is, “The hiss and sigh of the filters that keep the flooded chambers clean and oxygenated” (McGuire 1). Flooded chambers clean and oxygenated is an example of personification because ships can not use oxygen, they do not have lungs. Lastly, chambers deal with the heartbeat of the ship, there are four chambers to the human heart that help keep the human alive. The author gives personification to the ship and compares it to a heart in order to show readers how important the ship is. 

A second example of how the author of “Each to Each” uses figurative language is on page 8 in paragraph 68. The author states, “The captain has ordered that we stay together at all times, two by two, preventing flights like Seaman Metcalf’s, preventing danger from the dark (Pg. 8).” Similes are a type of figurative language that compares two different things either using “like” or “as”. The narrator uses the word like to compare the women to how they should prevent flight like Seaman Metcalf’s. This means that the women should stay together and not run away. The author continues to add in paragraph 68 that, “I am breaking orders as I slide into the water alone, a light slung around my neck like a strange jewel, a harpoon gun in my hands (page 8). “A light slung around my neck like a strange jewel” is a simile. It is a simile because the author compares light slinging around the person's neck like a strange jewel. This quotation means that the light that was pointed at her was so bright it looked like a strange jewel.

The last example of figurative language in “Each to Each” is shown on page 9 in paragraph 72. “She emerges from the dark like a dream, swimming calm and confident into the radiant glow of my halogen light (Pg. 9)”, is an example of a simile. The author compares how the female emerges from the dark like a dream by using the word like. The meaning of this simile is that a slow peaceful distance helps a person fall asleep, once darkness arises, it will be used by merging that person into a dream. “Her mod is one I’ve never seen before, long hair and rounded fins and pattern like a clownfish (pg.9)”, is another example of figurative language. The figurative language that this quote is an example of is a simile. The writer compares how the person looks to a clownfish.

In paragraph 15, the author states, “I can’t imagine how the Navy thinks this is a good use of their best people,” revealing that only the highest quality Seamen are transformed into these sea creatures. He furthers this claim by revealing, “you have to be damn good to get assigned to a submarine command.” The women on this submarine are some of the best the Navy has to offer, and yet they are contained undersea and chosen to undergo brutal procedures that alter them physically and mentally. In spite of the momentous sacrifice they are making for the betterment of mankind, those who undergo the procedure are considered “compromised” and are no longer able to “be shown in public.” These women have sacrificed their lives and bodies for their country but are hidden away from the world and essentially shunned. The human Captain of their command regards her crew with fear and disdain that is palpable to the Seamen. “We terrify her,” states the narrator, relaying that even her own command views them as less than human and as if they have a reduced value.

In paragraph 7, the narrator discloses that, “they were all men… walking into our spaces, our submarines with their safe and narrow halls, and telling the women who had to live there to make themselves over into a new image, a better image.” The author previously revealed that studies showed women were superior to men at dealing with life on a submarine. In spite of their superiority, they were still told to change themselves to be better for the Navy. The speaker calls the halls “safe” so the reader understands that the all-female crew had their own sanctuary away from the dangers posed by men until they invaded their ship and instructed them to alter themselves. When the speaker says, “a better image” it implies that the women were not good enough to begin with. They were sold a promise that this transformation would be an improvement, when it actually creates a prison they cannot escape.

“Each to Each”, written by Seanan McGuire, is a detailed story about how leaving a person's human nature in the past and finding that person's self through fighting the urge to become a piece of the sea. In “Each to Each '', the short story showed the intentions of those in power as they change humans into super-human, and how women come together in a world run by men. “Each to Each '' gives numerous examples of figurative language; such as personification and similes and serves as a representation of the physical, mental, and emotional changes women must endure to be considered, useful, and beneficial to society. The non-literal significance of these passages as a whole is that they show how non-human women are being taken advantage of by men.