What metaphors are used in Robert Kennedy and His Times by Arthur Meier Schlesinger?

Much of this biography is a metaphor for personal growth. A variety of factors determine the adult that an individual becomes—family relationships, genetic and environmental circumstances, significant events, education—and this was certainly apparent in the story of Robert Kennedy. Born into wealth and privilege, Robert Kennedy might have had options most others do not. His parents,however, and especially his father, set courses for their sons that would have made frivolous lifestyles impossible.