Can you help me understand this storyi don't undersatnd the metaphors?

Question

THE MAN WITH THE TRUMPET

I stated it as definitely as I could. I was in a room with them.

They had tongues like me, and hair and eyes.

I got up out of my chair and said it as definitely as I could.

Their eyes wavered. Something slipped out of their grasp. Had I been

white and strong and young enough I might have plunged through walls,

gone outward into nights and days, gone into prairies, into distances--

gone outward to the doorstep of the house of God, gone to God's throne

room with their hands in mine.

What I am trying to say is this--

By God I made their minds flee out of them.

Their minds came out of them as clear and straight as anything could

be.

I said they might build temples to their lives.

I threw my words at faces floating in a street.

I threw my words like stones, like building stones.

I scattered words in alleyways like seeds.

I crept at night and threw my words in empty rooms of houses in a

street.

I said that life was life, that men in streets and cities might build

temples to their souls.

I whispered words at night into a telephone.

I told my people life was sweet, that men might live.

I said a million temples might be built, that doorsteps might be

cleansed.

At their fleeing harried minds I hurled a stone.

I said they might build temples to themselves.

THE MAN WITH THE TRUMPET [Sherwood Anderson's short story]

Answer 1

You are right, this is pretty obscure.

I am not sure that it is best approached exclusively seeking  metaphors, unless they are more subtle than I am capable of distinguishing !  I see this more as images, some of which are metaphorical but others which create an impression which is the meaning.

The trumpet is a burning idea of great urgency this person has.  He is trying to communicate it.  He does this directly, by talking to people, and then shouting when they will not listen.  He tries telling people in crowds, and whispering the truth to the sleeping city at night, maybe even talk-back radio.

The person feels that they are alienated, partly because of their age and race.  They would be listened to more if they were young and white.  The person is also alienated because he is shouting the truth but people write him off as unimportant. (ie., "their eyes waver" - what you would do when confronted by a preacher in a train station - just get me past this bloke without having to be rude or listen to him).

he is doing this in an urban environment, surrounded by people but unable to connect with them.  They are too preoccupied with their own concerns ("At their fleeing harried minds I hurled a stone".)

What is the idea ?  It is not clear to me - and perhaps this is the point.  I think the story is about the frustration of someone who knows something important but cannot convey it, rather than about the idea itself, about the alienation of a mass society obsessed with trivia.

The idea, (or trumpet), seems to be a revelation that by "building a temple" to their soul, or concentrating on internal improvement rather than day to day urban life people can "see god".  This may or may not be directly religious, but the feel of the piece fits a slightly crazy evangelist who sees god himself but cannot awaken the world to his revelation.  God could also be a metaphor for a state of grace or happiness.