Darkness
Unofficially speaking, darkness is the defining metaphor of the modern age. Once a reader starts to realize this, its omnipresence is impossible to ignore. "I believe in the Darkness...The Darkness is demented, it's a savage god, a mad god." Admittedly, even in metaphorical form, the presence of darkness in this novel is tinged with more literal qualities than usual. Darkness is even more ubiquitous in this book than in most which have transformed it into a symbol of modern anxiety covering every aspect of humanity.
Setting
Literal setting is ripe for the use of simile to create the sense of uncertainty that is the guiding emotional tenor of this story. "There was so much light that morning and the sky was so clear, its warm blue marred by a single white smirch, more like a plume of smoke than a cloud." The comparison of a cloud to smoke as a striking flaw within a picture-perfect sky sets the tone very early for a stylistic approach that is repeated throughout. A sense of the environment being just a little off and ambiguously framed becomes a constant refrain in the storytelling structure. A cloud, after all, is pure while smoke is definitely not.
Emotions
The story told in this long novel is one in which emotions run the gamut of extremes. As a result, similes are plentiful. "He felt his heart skip as if it were accelerating with a gear change." The choice of language that associates speed with vehicular motion is not uncommon. The connection is easily understood in almost any culture and the translation into English in this case is smooth and to the point.
More Smoke
Smoke imagery informs many of the metaphors and similes throughout the novel. The elasticity of this imagery stretches from the expanse of the sky to the illusory tangibility of a person. "The image of the woman vanished slowly, like dissipating smoke. The air in the room seemed cleaner, as though they had opened the windows." This dual use of simile cements the connection of smoke as something impure. It is a flaw that mars the sense of natural perfection.
Blond Man in a Black Shirt
Simply describing a character as a man whose yellow hair is highlighted with orange while attired in a black shirt does the trick of character description but fails to convey anything about the person looking. "The sight of him was like a surprising sunset, when nature puts its danger and its beauty on vivid display." The addition of this simile lends a deeper level to the passive description. It places the reader into the head of the character looking at the man. And suddenly, one knows for certain that this sight is something truly spectacular and filled with significance.
