Fists
One cannot help but notice there is an abundance of metaphorical references to fists in this story. Some of those references are quite profane as explicit references to sexuality. The others are more mundane examples of metaphorical imagery:
“and then all of a sudden the tunnel tightened around the train like a fist.”
“Tension in my belly, like a fist drawn up.”
Well, Some Music, Anyway
Music plays a big role in the novel. More precisely, the blues play a big role in the narrative. But not everybody shares the same feelings toward the fundamental character of songs. Not by a long shot:
“Songs are devils. It’s your own destruction you’re singing about. The voice is a devil.”
Corregidora as Metaphor
What is Corregidora, anyway? Sounds like a place, but it's really a family name. And so the answer is that Corregidora is a metaphor:
“it was as if their memory, the memory of all the Corregidora women, was her memory too, as strong with her as her own private memory, or almost as strong.”
Literary Allusion
A neat little trick that good writers engage is making metaphorical imagery even more resonant by alluding to previously created literary creations. The familiarity of “getting” the reference fills in the gaps and holes that would otherwise require more description than necessary:
“I’d been expecting that, but instead he’d come in looking like damn Dick Tracy, making men rather laugh at him than fight him anyway.”
Simplicity
Sometimes the most effective metaphors are the simplest of similes. The simile’s comparison paints a portrait that most everyone can understand through the act of familiar juxtaposition. It doesn’t require artful expression every single time:
“Sweat inside her hands. Her palms like sunburnt gold.”
