Mr. Q’s speech
The constant flow of words from Mr. Q’s mouth is brought out through the use of a simile. This imagery for his speech is made explicit through the direct comparison of the same to pebbles pouring. The writer notes: “…with Mr. Q nothing went to waste, it was always like pebbles were pouring from his lips…”
Makina’s laugh
Makina stupidly laughs at the blunt jokes that the man she takes out for a stroll makes. The writer compares her laugh to that of a halfwit, a situation that makes the reader’s perception of her behavior as stupid more prominent: “… [she] took him for a stroll, laughed like a halfwit at everything he said, especially if it wasn’t funny…”
The sensed presence
The ‘presence’ that Makina senses is scattered about and its imagery is enhanced through the use of a simile. Specifically, the disseminated and spread out nature of the presence as perceived by Makina is compared to scattered bolts: “Out on the concrete and steel-girder plain, though, she sensed another presence straight off, scattered about like bolts fallen from a window.”
The men from the tunnels
The imagery of the men emerging from the tunnels is brought out through the writer’s employment of vivid descriptions and similes as well: “all black but some blacker than others, some sinewy as if they’d grown up in mountain air, others puffy like aquatic animals…” The simile enhances the visualization of some of the men as bulbous.
The darkness engulfing the sky
The appearance of the sky turning dark is directly likened to a pool of blood, albeit a drying one. In this way, the description evokes a sense of familiarity and thus enhances imagery: “There was still some light in the sky but it was turning dark, like a giant pool of drying blood.”
