A Fish Out of Water (Metaphor)
In the story, "The Wall," the narrator uses a metaphor to describe his recent arrival to America: "When I met Herr Weill, I was a lanky ten-year-old, a fish out of water in ——, Iowa, a small college town surrounded by fields in every direction." This colloquial comparison to "a fish out of water" suggests that he feels uncomfortable in the town he has come to and is struggling to adjust.
Like a Difficult Problem (Simile)
At the end of the story "Mekonnen aka Mack aka Huey Freakin' Newton," Mekonnen describes the way his father looks at him after he dances in front of a hateful store manager: "He looked like he was working out a difficult problem, making an intricate calculation." This comparison suggests that he is deep in thought, trying to understand a side of his son he had not previously witnessed.
An Uninvited Guest (Metaphor)
In the story, "Kind Stranger," Gedeyon compares the Derg to an uninvited guest, referencing "those of us who got to truly know the Derg over all those years, who knew it as an uninvited guest dropping in on each meal and in every interaction." This metaphor highlights the constant presence of the Derg's looming menace in the homes of everyday Ethiopian people.
Like a Drain (Simile)
In the story "Sinkholes," the narrator describes a blank space on the board: "All these words circle this space like a drain, written sideways, slanting, shifting from the perimeter of this emptiness like the very arms of the Milky Way around a black hole." The comparison to a drain, and later the Milky Way, suggests that the blank space is actually drawing more attention than the words around it. This is significant to the story as the narrator begins to feel that everyone is waiting for him to fill the space with a specific racial slur.
Lifeblood (Metaphor)
In the story "The Life and Times of the Little Manuscript," a man writes about his experience of the Derg and says that it created a "sadness that siphoned off part of the lifeblood of that time in his youth." This metaphor powerfully conveys the extent to which this political oppression fundamentally warped his childhood and impacted his life.
