Crying Little Piece of Filth (Metaphor)
When the group is first discussing how to deal with the crisis of Adam's presumed death, Brian cannot stop crying. After John Tate bullies the other boys into saying they are all on the same side, John Tate turns his attention to Brian, saying, "That just leaves you, Brian. You crying little piece of filth." In this metaphor, John Tate seeks to dehumanize and intimidate Brian by referring to him as a "piece of filth."
Grief Pouring Into the School (Metaphor)
After the group of friends decides collectively to go along with Phil's plan to cover up Adam's death, Leah remarks on the irony of everyone at school appearing to be happier than usual. She says, "It’s pouring into the school, grief, grief is making them happy." In this metaphor, Leah speaks of grief as "pouring into" their secondary school, as though the intangible phenomenon has a physical form that can be poured into a building. In doing so, Leah emphasizes the sheer amount of grief she senses all around her.
Fear Like a Soft Blanket (Simile)
When the group discovers that Adam has been living in the woods for weeks, Leah asks Adam to explain how he survived. Adam recounts how he fell into the deep shaft and landed on leaves before crawling through pitch-black tunnels. Adam says, "I felt like the dark was my fear, do you know what I mean? I was wrapped in it. Like a soft blanket." In this simile, Adam emphasizes the strange comfort of being in the tunnel by comparing the fear he felt in the dark to a soft blanket wrapped around him.
I Was New (Metaphor)
When recounting the story of his unexpected survival, Adam says that he crawled through a tunnel toward light because he assumed he was moving toward the light that people see when they are dying. However, Adam was disappointed to discover that the light was an opening to the forest, not the end of his pain. He says, "I couldn't remember anything. I was new." In this metaphor, Adam describes how he experienced near-total memory loss from his head injury as being "new," as though emerging from the tunnel was akin to being reborn as a different being. In reality, he was not new, but a severely brain-damaged version of himself.
