The behavior of the Central Europeans
The narrator emphasizes the controlled and in-autonomous lives of the Central Europeans through the employment of a simile. The narrator compares their behavior to that of puppets with no natural movement, with everything about them being stiff and ridiculous.
Bernhard notes: “Central Europeans behave like puppets, not like human beings, he said. They’re all tense, they don’t move naturally, everything about them is stiff and ultimately ridiculous. And unendurable.”
The longevity of life of the stupid
Franz-Josef presents the ideology held by his uncle with regards to how stupid people have long lives. The narrator employs a simile to bring out how their stupidity protects them like armor. The narrator notes: “People like that reach a great age. Their stupidity encloses them for decades like protective armor plating…” A hint of despise that Georg holds against this group is made apparent.
The framed diploma hanging over the desk
The narrator enhances the reader’s conception of the appearance of his father’s diploma via the employment of a simile. The framed diploma hangs like an altarpiece over the narrator’s father’s desk. The narrator notes: “My father, having qualified at the forestry school, had his diploma framed and hung it over his desk like an altarpiece.” While this simile enhances imagery, it also points out the importance accorded to this diploma by the narrator’s father as he flaunts it for everyone to see.
Johannes’s writing
The narrator excellently contrasts his behavior and lifestyle from that of his more reserved brother. While the narrator’s books are always dirty, Johannes’s books, on the other hand, are always clean and his writing flawless. A simile is used to emphasize the quality of Johannes’s handwriting: “His schoolbooks were always clean and his writing like copperplate…”
Philosophy and its impermanence
The impermanence of philosophy is emphasized in this work through the use of a simile in which it is compared to the air we breathe in but is unretainable and has to be breathed out:
"Philosophy is like the air we breathe: we breathe it in, but we can’t retain it for long before breathing it out. All our lives, we constantly inhale it and exhale it, but we can never retain it for that vital extra moment that would make all the difference.”
