“Foreign body”
Ward recounts, “I’d just finished the first year of my two-year graduate program, and my nose was running so badly I could only breathe out of my mouth. I’d never had allergies like that before my time in Michigan, and having them then made me feel as if the very landscape in Michigan hated me, as if I were a foreign body it was attempting to eject.” The emblematic ‘foreign body’ emphasizes Ward’s tenacious allergies upon arriving in Michigan. The allergies are an indication that the Michigan atmosphere is not favorable to her body.
Barrel
Ward elucidates, “ He ( Uncle Bookie) had a chest like a barrel, and his eyes closed when he smiled.” The figurative barrel accentuates Uncle bookie’s toughness. The barrel-like form depicts his apparent masculinity.
Salvage
Ward expounds, “MY PARENTS WERE trying to salvage their marriage. Sometimes on the weekends, my father and mother would make time for each other and they’d leave us with one of their friends.” The allegorical salvage implies the matrimony is not solid, it is at the verge of crumpling. Dedicating time to retrieving the marriage portrays the couples willpower to liberate it from the forthcoming dissolution.
Blind
Ward recalls, “ I thought my parents were mostly happy then, but now I know my own happiness blinded me.” The emblematic blindness emphasizes Ward’s obliviousness to the misfortune between her parents. She contemplates that her contentment is a replication of her parents’ bliss.
