The Words Stung (Metaphor)
In the opening scene of Fuzzy Mud, Tamaya is having lunch with friends at Woodbridge Academy. Trying to impress the girls, Chad claims he encountered a wolf in the woods surrounding the school. When Tamaya reminds everyone that students aren't supposed to go into the woods, Hope calls her a goody-two-shoes. Sachar writes, "The words stung. Just a few seconds earlier, she had been feeling so cool, talking with the older boys. Now they were all looking at her as if she were some kind of freak." In this metaphor, Sachar emphasizes the embarrassment Tamaya feels in her body by speaking of Hope's words as though they are physically stinging Tamaya.
Like a Freshly Opened Can of Soda (Simile)
After touching the mysterious mud in the woods, Tamaya's hand begins to tingle. Sachar writes that the skin doesn't hurt, but feels "sort of fizzy, like a freshly opened can of soda." In this simile, Sachar immerses the reader in Tamaya's experience by likening the peculiar tingling on her skin to the rush of bubbles that rise up when you open a carbonated drink.
Guilt Pumped Through Her Veins (Metaphor)
When Tamaya arrives home after taking a longer-than-expected "shortcut" through the woods with Marshall, she is relieved to find that her mother is also running late. Soon after Tamaya gets in, her mother phones to apologize for being stuck at work. Tamaya says it's okay, not admitting that she broke rules by going through the woods and tore her expensive sweater in the process. Sachar writes, "Guilt pumped through her veins." In this metaphor, Sachar emphasizes how the discomfort of lying to her mother feels like a physical substance spreading throughout Tamaya's body in her bloodstream.
Like Smoke (Simile)
While trying to reach Chad in the woods, Tamaya moves carefully toward a gully half-filled with fuzzy mud. At the edge of the gully, she looks over her shoulder to see "a thin layer of fuzzy scum [rising] up from it, like smoke." In this simile, Sachar emphasizes the otherworldly image of fuzzy scum rising from a pit of tar-like mud by likening the scum's growth to smoke lingering in the air.
She Froze (Metaphor)
When she finally reaches Chad in the woods, Tamaya is shocked to see that the mud which gave her a rash on her hand has blinded his face. Sachar writes, "Then she saw him. He crashed his way through a tangle of twigs and thin branches. She froze." In this metaphor, Sachar uses a figure of speech to liken the shock Tamaya experiences to her freezing in place.
