In chapter 8 of " A separate peace" , Knowless describes the war as a wave. How does comparisons with the sea and swimming get across the mood of the story and of the characters.

The sea is unpredictable, it is wild and uncontrollable. A wave, like the war, rushes over the surface and consumes the things in its path....... leaving behind a few survivors flailing in the waves to get their feet back on the ground and begin again.