The raging inferno
In the presentation of the imagery of the yellow fire, the inferno of the Petit’s tarpaper, as brought out in Ptolemy’s point of view, a simile is used in which the waving of the fire is directly linked to the waving of tall grass in the wind. In this line, the raging and ferocious nature of the fire is perceivable: “the inferno of the Petit’s tarpaper home; the yellow fire that waved like tall grass in the wind and the dark shadows that looked like the silhouette of a tall man moving through the rooms.”
The impact of dementia
The impact of dementia in Ptolemy’s life is explicitly brought out in this work. As a result of the mental fog, Ptolemy becomes aware of losing his memories. The writer uses a simile in which the memories that he is unable to recover are directly compared to secrets locked away and the key has been lost: “So his memory became like secrets held away from his own mind.” The effect of dementia on Ptolemy’s mind is thus comprehensible.
Ptolemy’s hissing voice
Hilly’s decision to switch off Ptolemy’s radio is faced with a hint of anger, ferocity, and annoyance following his fear of losing his favorite shows thanks to the mental fog and memory lapses that his mind had been reduced into, following dementia. The writer uses a simile in which this annoyance is implied: “Ptolemy shouted, his voice cracking into a hiss like electric static.” The risk of losing his favorite shows following memory lapses is implied as he says: “That’s my radio. It got to be on all the time or I might lose my shows.”
Hilly’s profuse sweating
Even though Ptolemy complains of the outside being quite cold on their way to the Big City Food Mart with Hilly, the same is unrelatable to her as she argues that the outside was over eighty degrees. To emphasize her point, Hilly uses a simile in her speech in which she compares her profuse sweating to that of a pig: “And it’s ovah eighty degrees. I’m sweatin’ like a pig as it is.”
Robyn’s comforting words
The words uttered by Robyn are brought out as having quite a positive effect on Ptolemy Grey. When she reassures him of the possibility of her taking care of both of them, a simile is used to bring out the effect of the words on Ptolemy. In particular, the words encourage him holding him like an anchor: “He [Ptolemy] remembered them and they held him like an anchor, like that young girl, that Robyn, held his hand.”
