What metaphors are used in Melanctha by Gertrude Stein?

Freedom is an important metaphor in the narrative. Especially in its depiction of Melanctha as she defies gender roles, the story engages with the idea of freedom from convention and from social structures. Freedom from structure operates in form and content at once, since both Melanctha and the narrative "wander." Oddly, however, as critics have pointed out, freedom as a concept in relation to African-American liberation is quite absent.