Fingers wobbling like a compass dial
The narrator emphasizes the vantage wobbling between Sidra's fingers by comparing them directly to the wobbling of a compass. The use of this imagery is particularly important in facilitating the creation of a mental image of the same in the reader's subconscious, making the story more interesting and appealing: "Now her hands trembled too much, even drinking juice, especially drinking juice, a Vantage wobbling between her fingers like a compass dial."
The words cash cow nestled in the side of her mouth like a cud
After Sidra invests in a stock market, she writes her dreams down in the morning to locate clues as to what to trade. After making extra money, she gets obsessed, the words cash cow repeating and recurring in her mouth like cud. This simile further emphasizes Sidra's obsession with making some extra money: "She made a little extra money. She got obsessed. The words cash cow nestled in the side of her mouth like a cud."
The rippled state of lake Michigan like a blackboard gone bad
After Sidra's obsession with the stock market, "When a stock went down, she bought more of it, to catch it on the way back up." As such, she got confused and took to staring out the window down towards the lake. The narrator compares the rippled slate of the lake to a blackboard gone bad, a situation that promotes imagery: "She took to staring out the window at Lake Michigan, the rippled slate of it like a blackboard gone bad."
The shape of Sidra's room
In the first short story in "Birds of America," the narrator compares Sidra's L-shaped room to a life veering off suddenly to become something else. This enhances and improves the reader's perception of the same: "Her room was a corner room where a piano was allowed. It was L-shaped, like a life veering off suddenly to become something else."
The appearance of the jack'-o-lantern Sidra had curved for Halloween
The narrator uses a simile in which they directly compare its frozen, melted and rotted state to a collapsed basketball. This enhances imagery making the story more appealing to the reader: "On the ledge, a jack-o’-lantern she had carved for Halloween had rotted, melted, froze, and now looked like a collapsed basketball—one she might have been saving for sentimental reasons, one from the big game! The man who brought her room service each morning—two poached eggs and a pot of coffee—reported her to the assistant manager, and she received a written warning slid under the door."
