Which type of figurative language is used in this sentence from George Orwell’s novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying?

Question

The public are swine; advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill-bucket.

Answer 1

This sentence uses two metaphors. The comparison the public to swine is a metaphor. It is saying the general public are like pigs or swine. And the second part of the sentence that is also a metaphor. It is comparing crudely calling the swine to feed by rattling a stick is the same as the use of advertising to the general public. When comparisons are made between two things to suggest that they are similar in some aspect you are using metaphoric language. It is an aspect of the figurative use of language.