Put Him Down Like a Dog (Simile)
Duchess, while retelling the story of his and Woolly’s escape from Salina to Emmett, compares their situation to that of being a hunted animal: “They see a fidgety stranger with a drifty look in his eye and a butcher knife in his hand, and they’ll put him down like a dog” (p. 49).
Darkness (Metaphor)
Darkness is a common metaphor for the depths of the human condition: isolation, evil, hopelessness, ignorance, etc. In The Lincoln Highway, darkness represents the condition of man in the modern world. It is a metaphor found extensively throughout the book, and in particular in a striking instance from Ulysses' point of view: “First there was darkness without recognition. Then slowly, an awareness of it. An awareness that it wasn’t the darkness of space—cold, vast, and remote. It was a darkness that was close and warm, a darkness that was covering him, embracing him in the manner of a velvet shroud" (p. 367).
A Lightning Strike (Simile)
A woman’s reaction to seeing Fitzy is compared to a bolt of lightning, as her realization is so striking and startling: “When she saw Fitzy, it struck her like a bolt of lightning that with his big white beard and soft blue eyes, he would be the perfect Santa Claus” (p. 276).
Fiery Spirit (Simile)
Woolly, remembering the incident that got him kicked out of a boarding school, admires the goalpost he accidentally set on fire: “Suddenly, it didn’t look like a goalpost at all. It looked like a fiery spirit raising its arms to the sky in a state of exultation” (p. 317).
Snail (Simile)
Having just attacked Ulysses, Pastor John compares Billy to a snail, as Billy has curled up into himself in fear: “Rather, he would withdraw into himself like a snail into its shell” (p. 364).
