I came with a sword
J says this to narrator as he asks him to make a journey to have new experiences. He says that even though the narrator is asking for ways to find peace, J doesn’t want him to get that without any kind of struggle. He wants the narrator to face the turmoil that is essential in finding that peace. The sword is a metaphor to J’s cruelty where he is subjecting the narrator to the turmoil so he can find that peace.
Chinese Bamboo
Chinese Bamboo is a metaphor for narrator’s spiritual growth. Chinese Bamboo after sprouting develops its roots in the soil in a vast network for over five years while remaining a small bud above earth and then suddenly shoots to insane heights after having strengthened its roots. The narrator realizes that he had been accumulating spiritual knowledge all these years but disappointed with lack of result. He realizes that like Chinese bamboo he needed time to grow internally but can know grow externally now that his roots are developed.
Time is not a cassette tape that can be wound and rewound.
Time is being compared to a cassette tape where the tape is a metaphor. However, unlike a tape time can’t be wound or unwound.
Mare Ignotum
The words mean unknown sea and are used as a metaphor for the different kinds of people the writer is traveling with. It consists of his publisher and his wife, the editor, the translator and Hilal. All of them are for different reasons and are of different characteristics. The narrator is unsure as to how to proceed with such a group of people and compares himself to a navigator who is in an unknown sea.
Montanha-Russa
The words mean Russian mountain in Portuguese and are the name for a rollercoster in Brazil. The words are used to compare the narrator’s journey on the train to the rollercoster. He feels that though not as adrenaline-surging as the ride on the rollercoster but his journey is as stressful.
