Living like Pigs (Simile)
In Act 1, Scene 2, Gwen scolds Meg for spending too much time with Tom and insinuates that he and his family are beneath them because of their status as lower-class immigrants. In doing so, she uses a rather rude and dehumanizing simile, saying that "some people may be happy living like pigs but I'm not" (11). Of course, this simile reflects the distance that Gwen sees between herself and Tom's family, but one irony lies in the fact that, by the play's end, she will come to see Vic and Harry's humanity. Further, it is the knowledge of this humanity that will in turn shock her out of her own animalistic behavior and encourage her to behave humanely again.
Looking like Gods (Simile)
In Coral's Act 1, Scene 3 monologue, she meditates on the nature of death and how tragic it is when one dies in their youth. Specifically, framing youth as what she just witnessed on the stage of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Coral asks herself, "Is it better for them to die like that? Looking like gods?" (12). Here, Coral of course is referring to the classical clothing and stage makeup of the actors. On a deeper level, however, she is also subtly equating the beauty of youth with divinity. Youth, in Coral's mind, is drawn together with divine contact, which follows death. This is perhaps an inheritance of her grief regarding her young son's death, but it also reveals a great deal about how much Coral values youth, both in herself and others (like Rick and Tom).
Behaving like a Ghost (Simile)
In Act 2, Scene 3, Roy chastises Coral for her vacant and distant behavior in the wake of their son's death. In doing so, he accuses her of "behav[ing] like a ghost" (19). On a surface level, he means to imply that she does not participate in the real world enough and ignores the living concerns of those around her, perpetually dwelling in a haze. On a deeper level, though, consider also how Roy's characterization of ghosts here directly compares and contrasts with the figure of the sailor's ghost in Coral's Act 4 play. There, the sailor's ghost is selfless and caring towards his loved ones—is that how Carol is acting here? Does Roy understand her actions entirely?
Living with an Elderly Relative (Simile)
In Act 4, Scene 1, Harry tells Jim about Tom's terminal leukemia. In the process of doing so, he also tells Jim the reason that he and Vic left England: "It was like living with an elderly relative, tired, cranky, who doesn't want you to have any fun but just worry about their health all the time" (44-45). On a surface level, this simile is important because it sees a description of post-war England as ailing, stagnant, and unyielding to the interests of its citizens. At the same time, however, this quote is significant because it is more or less the same in description as what Harry and Vic are doing to Tom. This constitutes a major irony within the text: that Harry and Vic think they are allowing Tom to have fun, but in reality, their pressure leads him to enjoy himself less and less.
A Bonfire like an Armada (Simile)
In Act 4, Scene 3, Coral and Tom stage their play entitled The Stranger on the Shore. As the play ends, Coral and Tom light a bonfire, symbolic of the rebirth and cleansing of Coral and her character by the scene's end. However, observing the fire, Vic makes a comment that parses the fire's majesty a different way: "Look! It's like when the Armada was coming" (55). A callback to her British nationality, this line of course references the botched arrival of the Spanish Armada in England. On a deeper level, think about how this description challenges the notion of rebirth by inserting a conflictual or warlike quality. There may be a victory, as there was over the Spanish Armada, but this victory may cost someone destruction and death. Think of Tom in this moment: is he going to be reborn and redeemed like Coral, or will he lose his battle and be destroyed by his cancer?
