Hammer (Simile)
Morrison writes, “Except for the weeping from the room next to the fire exit, all was quiet—no squeak of an orderly’s shoes or smothered giggles, and no smell of cigarette smoke. The hinges groaned when he opened the door and the cold hit him like a hammer" (10-11). Through the bold, impactful hammer, Morrison underscores the extreme cold which the patient encounters outside in the course of escaping from the hospital. Frank's journey to Cee is not going to be easy, and this simile helps establish that fact.
Lily (Metaphor)
Frank and Lily are in love with each other, but their relationship is not easy. Frank can feel that she is watching him, judging him, and observes, "Sometimes Lily's face seemed to morph into the front of a jeep—relentless headlight eyes, a bright scouring above a grill-like smile" (21). This metaphor helps establish her bright but hostile look, her relentless training of her eyes on him like a Jeep illuminating the road ahead o it.
Displeasure (Metaphor)
As Lily and Frank's relationship continues to flag, "The fog of displeasure surrounding Lily thickened" (79). This metaphor is simple and effective: Lily is frustrated with Frank for not helping out, for not sharing her goals, for being mutely encumbered by the weight of memory. The "fog" is a good way to characterize her displeasure, for it is heavy, opaque, never-dissipating, and constant.
Korea Cold (Simile)
Frank thinks about Korea often, and tells his listener, "More than freezing, Korea cold hurts, clings like a kind of glue you can't peel off" (93). A sharp, powerful simile, this immediately conjures up a painful, inescapable feeling of glue clinging to the skin. The physical conditions of Korea were mirrored for Frank in the clinging memories of the place and what he did there.
Bus Riders (Simile)
Frank takes the bus from the city into the country to get to Cee, and observes that his fellow riders "dropped off the bus one by one like reluctant divers into inviting blue water high above the pollution below" (109). We can picture them alighting from the bus single-file, dropping off, vanishing into the countryside. They will be submerged into their jobs as maids and cooks and gardeners, Frank thinks, out of view just as if they were in the depths of the ocean.
