No Stone Unturned
Kamran was helping the officers decode the messages that were in the video to clear his brother’s name. He could not believe that his brother could do such a thing. The officer pledges to conduct a thorough investigation on the matter when he says, “We shall leave no stone unturned, as it were.” The statement has been used metaphorically to stress the detailed investigation they would carry out to reach the truth of the matter. It has also been used to assure Kamran that justice will prevail if his brother is innocent.
Sucker Punch
Jeremy was calling Kamran all kinds of offensive names because Kamran had an Iranian background. He downplayed it by saying he was fine, but he was not fine at all as shown in the statement, “But the truth was, it hurt like a sucker punch to the stomach.” A sucker punch to the stomach is one of the punches that are very painful since the stomach is normally a very soft part. The simile is used to show the intensity to which Jeremy’s words offended him. It also shows how unexpected he was that Jeremy would use such hurtful words to refer to his ethnicity.
Eternity
Kamran was watching the second video still helping the officers decode the message in the videos. The simile “The video was twelve minutes long, but it felt like an eternity.” Has been used to exaggerate the length of the video. Eternity has always been perceived as something with no end and that is exactly how Kamran felt watching the video. He was already stressed about his brother and the terrorist accusations and therefore any other thing to him was just like an eternity, taking too long. He just wanted all of this to end and for his brother to be cleared.
A Stream of Water
Kamran was facing isolation from the other students because of the news about his brother. Nobody wanted to be associated with him or make any contact with him. The isolation has been compared to this statement that says, “The crowd in the hall parted from me like they were a stream of water and I was a drop of oil.” Just like water and oil do not form a perfect solution since they are immiscible the same way the students in the hallway parted ways with Kamran. The simile stresses the magnitude of the isolation that Kamran was going through at the time.
Mattresses like Stone
Staying at a motel, Jimmy complained of how the mattresses at that place were like a stone when he says, “These mattresses are like stone.” The simile has been used to emphasize the texture of the mattresses which were seen to be very hard. It has also been used to show how uncomfortable the mattresses were for sleeping. Stones are known to be so strong, hard, and uncomfortable to even sit on so comparing the mattresses with a stone gave imagery of how stiff they were.
