Annapolis
Part of the interest of the narrative is that is semi-structured almost like a road trip novel. There is a lot of traveling and the reader is introduced along with the characters to a variety of places they themselves likely have never been before. A description during a stopover in Annapolis offers an intriguing metaphorical construction:
“Something was peculiar about the perspective here, she thought. It looked as if two photographs of two different places had been jammed together. The town looked as though it fell into the water.”
A Dicey Situation
Here is a pun that also kind of works as metaphor: a pun that accurately describes the situation that Dicey finds herself in practically non-stop. She is way too young to have to deal with the responsibility that has been dumped on her, but maybe that proverbial gobbledygook about God never giving a person more than they can handle is true:
“Dicey felt a great weight settle on her shoulders. She tried to shrug it off, but it wouldn’t move.”
Descriptive Embellishment
Of course, metaphorical language need not always be so illuminating about a character or a state of mind. Sometimes it exists simply to transform the commonplace into something a little more poetic:
“She looked out through the windshield, over the rows of parked cars, to where the sky hung like a bleached-out sheet over the top of the mall buildings.”
The Siren Call of the Sea
Some people just seem to be naturally called to the sea. They just seem more at home without a solid surface beneath. Ishmael, for one, of course. And, perhaps surprisingly, Dicey for another:
“Out here, there was salt on the wind itself that fell on your skin like rain. You could taste it. Out here the sun heated and the wind cooled, and the waves sang their constant song.”
Darkness and Paranoia
Darkness rises as a metaphor in almost any work of fiction. It is as inevitable as the next wave breaking on the shore. Darkness has become the defining metaphorical image of the modern age. In this particular instance, however, it is merely an entire into an entire body of metaphor:
“With her brothers and sister near, with the two youngest asleep in the back seat, sitting as they were in a cocoon of darkness, she should feel safe. But she didn't. Though it was standing still, the car seemed to be flying down a highway, going too fast. Even the dark inside of it was not deep enough to hide them. Faces might appear in the windows at any time, asking angry questions.”
