School simile
In one scene, Jose describes a school he is visiting, saying that "the students' desks looked like lines of tombs, where the teacher's desk was like a somber sacrificial altar." By using these similes, he makes the school seem eerie and unappealing.
Sadness simile
Jose says that "being able to tell you some of the sad things that have happened in my life was like getting rid of a great weight." Here, Saramago uses a simile to show how talking about problems has a healing effect.
Coal miner metaphor
Jose is described in the following passage, while he is searching for files and records: "Senhor Jose had become a coal miner hoping to find in the depths of the mine the pure carbon of a diamond." Here, his search of the records is metaphorically compared with a miner searching for diamonds.
Tomb simile
While Jose is searching through the records, he is described in the following way: "as if he were rummaging in the remains of a tomb, the dust became grafted onto his skin, so fine that is penetrated his clothing." Here, the fact that Jose is looking through old and dusty records is emphasized and is compared with rummaging through a tomb.
