D.H. Lawrence’s novel The Rainbow explores a human, spiritual transcendence of the animal body in the form of experiences that are themselves embodied. The chapter explores this typical Lawrencean paradox in relation to figurativity, which has often been understood in terms of embodied figure and abstract idea. In relation to this, The Rainbow’s depictions of the ethics of human-animal relationships are examined, showing how figurative readings can illuminate rather than veil the violences of such relationships. Different modes of imagery offer different ways to understand this issue, and the chapter compares the ideological implications of metaphor with those of simile, symbol, allegory, and catachresis. These tropes all try to handle the risks and prospects of approaching the other—whether an animal one or something else—despite its inherent unknowability. In its engagement with such tropes, The Rainbow approaches the difficulties of both the imperative to leave the other be in this unknowability and the desire to approach it without appropriation.