The Bandidos
The novel opens with two bandidos arriving in a small village. They are not just bandidos—not your average Mexican bandits as seen in the movies. What they really are is expressed simply through a metaphorical image of their means of transport:
“The big police LTD rolled down the streets like a jaguar sniffing for its prey.”
Northern Rabbits
Cows are jokingly described as “northern rabbits” because of the emaciated conditions which make them look almost nothing like normal bovine. This is the result of tremendously awful living conditions:
“They stood in the sun as if they’d already been slaughtered, as if they were being barbecued down to charcoal and just didn’t know it.”
Nothing Better than Crab Day
The idea of going crabbing would be nothing more nor less than a complete nightmare for a large percentage of the population. This is not universally true, however. A simile of divine inspiration makes that eminently clear:
“Crabbing was like going to heaven. A whole day immersed in the clear lagoon, with barrels of ice full of soda and beer, the thatch-roofed huts in the sand swinging with hammocks, the big pots boiling crabs to be eaten on stiff fried tortillas.”
Character Description
Metaphorical imagery is often used for the purpose of character description. More often than not, the choice is simply a comparison made by similes, but when one turns to direct metaphor, the result can be pure poetry as well as endowing a character with a personality practically bursting off the page:
“In Camarones, he had been a fire on two legs, he had been a human waltz and a walking tango, he had brought music and cologne into the plazuela on each humid mysterious love-scented Saturday night! Talking to Nayeli brought it all back, rich and sweet.”
Abductions
The terror of abductions made in the night are lent an extra added dimension of mystery and horror through the language of metaphor. The description transforms a simple kidnapping into something more grotesque:
“Nayeli saw the palest ghosts in the night as the Colombians were tossed into a tan Humvee and then were swallowed whole by dust and darkness and were gone, as if it had all been a dream.”
