The appearance of the sock
The imagery of the sock and particularly its coiled nature is drawn to the reader’s notice through the employment of a simile. Comparing the coiled nature of the sock to a question mark enhances a profound understanding of its appearance. The narrator notes: “…a single pale-pink sock, which coiled like a question mark at the foot of the bed.”
The sound of the drone’s wings
The drone’s wings make a sound which is conceived via the narrator’s employment of a simile directly comparing it to the sounds made by a bee, albeit a metal one. In this way, the sound of the drone’s wings is enhanced: “He could hear the sound its wings made against the roof, like a metal bee trapped in a bottle.”
Catareen’s skin
The smoothness of Catareen’s wings is brought out through the use of a simile in which it is likened to that of a leaf. The use of the simile thus enhances the image of Catareen’s skin while at the same time enhancing the reader’s perception of it. The narrator notes: “Her skin was slick and smooth as a leaf. It was thin and fragile-looking, like a leaf.”
The bleached abandoned houses
The effect of time and weather on the abandoned stretch of houses is made explicit through the narrator’s comparison of their bleached and semitranslucent appearance to paper houses. The simile thus facilitates imagery. “The houses had been one idea, endlessly repeated. Time and weather had bleached them, made them semitranslucent, like paper houses.”
Ferocity
The ferocity of the Nadian’s is suggested through the employment of a simile in which the narrator compares how Catareen had pounced on a boy to a lizard seizing a beetle. In this way, the writer is able to emphasize the girl’s fierceness. “He had seen her jump on a boy like a lizard seizing a beetle. He understood that some of what was said of Nadians was probably true. They had animal aspects. They were capable of doing harm.”
