“The fires pool and strut; they flow up the sides of the ramparts like tides; they splash into alleys, over rooftops, through a carpark. Smoke chases dust; ash chases smoke. A newsstand floats, burning.” (Ch 32) (metaphor and simile)
Metaphor and simile are used here to draw a parallel between the fire of the bombings of Saint-Malo and water. This describes how the flames seem to move and flow as if they were water. Also, this description alludes to the name of the precious diamond, the Sea of Flames, and how it contains in its name water and fire, their relationship inseparable. On top of this, the metaphors here are used to highlight the living nature of the flames and ash, personifying them.
“Marie-Laure looks up from her book and believes she can smell gasoline under the wind. As if a great river of machinery is steaming slowly, irrevocably, toward her.” (Ch 23) (simile)
This is a simile for the war that is coming to take over France and is unstoppable. There is metonymy here in the use of the machinery, because it implies more than just the literal tanks and weapons: it is also the machinery of Nationalism, the ideology that has lead Germany to invade France. Marie-Laure is trapped in this reality; this is emphasized by her helplessness conveyed in this simile, because the movement is irrevocable.
“Radio: it ties a million ears to a single mouth. Out of loudspeakers all around Zollverein, the staccato voice of the Reich grows like some imperturbable tree; its subjects lean toward its branches as if toward the lips of God.” (Ch 24) (simile)
This simile highlights the power of radio in the spreading of nationalist propaganda of the Third Reich. The voice grows like a tree, evoking imagery of something that is strong and well-rooted. The subjects (the Germans) lean as if toward the lips of God; the simile thus builds on the initial image to liken the voice of the Third Reich to that of God, because the ideology is revered and worshipped.
“One hundred children passing sleek and interchangeable in their white uniforms like livestock before the eyes of the examiners.” (ch 38) (simile)
The examiners in the entrance exams are observing the children as if they were animals being evaluated for purity of lineage and ableness of body, as if they were animals to be bred like livestock. This simile underlines the nationalist ideology of the purity and conformity, as symbolized by the white uniforms.
“Memory coming at Werner like a six-car train out of the darkness...The recognition is immediate. It is as if he has been drowning for as long as he can remember and somebody has fetched him up for air.” (Ch 133) (simile)
When Werner listens to the radio and hears the voice of Etienne—much like that of “The Professor” to whom Werner used to listen, combined with the music Clair de Lune—he feels assaulted by the memory at first, hence the comparison to being hit by an unexpected train… Yet as he listens more, he begins to feel relief, as if in the time between when he once knew that voice and this moment, he has been suffering or drowning. This suffering was the ideology of the Third Reich, in the actions he has committed that further their cruel goals; hearing these familiar sounds is like breathing again, reminding him of the good he once knew in himself.
