In
fact, Paul Ricoeur locates hyperbole at the center of proverb (operating
through a law of paradox and hyperbole) and parable (operating through a law of
extravagance). He writes, “There is no
parable that does not introduce into the very structure of the plot an
implausible characteristic, something insolent, disproportionate; that is,
something scandalous” (1995, 229). He argues that through paradox and hyperbole
one is disoriented, the “extraordinary breaks forth in the ordinary,” and by
way of proverb and/or parable one is again reoriented to a new way of seeing
and being, a new way of perceiving reality. Rather than being deceitful,
hyperboles used in proverbs and parables can reveal new ways of thinking and
being in the world. They are strategies of transformation as well as disruption
and resistance through excess, extravagance, and exaggeration.
