Wistful and Defensive Parents
Whenever Dalton asks his parents why they ended up on the Lower East Side, they show the same behavior as "a boxer who missed his only chance at a title fight." This simile connotes that they know now that they have made a mistake by not buying a loft in Soho, which would be worth a fortune by now. The title fight, therefore, represents a middle-class lifestyle with no financial worries.
Dalton's Father Like a War Veteran
When Dalton's father talks about his severe acne he suffered as a teenager, and the resulting experimental surgery, he presents himself "like a tough war veteran who was proud just to have survived the whole ordeal." This simile emphasizes that the surgery must have been a traumatizing experience for him, but at the same time, he does not try to hide his scars as he considers them proof of his ability to endure hardship and pain.
The Ventriloquist and the Wooden Dummies
Recounting the experience with Santa Claus at nursery school, Dalton says Santa would "balance each kid on his knee as if he were the ventriloquist and we the wooden dummies." This simile connotes that the children were passive and treated as props.
Dalton Feeling Like a Diplomat
After joining Public School 41, Dalton feels a sense of superiority: "It was like being a U.S. citizen
overseas—feeling intensely American, almost like a diplomat, and yet more liberated than one would in the United States." Comparing himself to a diplomat connotes that he feels more dignified and cultured compared to his friends back in his project neighborhood--in fact, he implies that he now considers his friends non-American or at least less American because of their ancestry.
Whiteness as a Language
In the opening lines of his book, Dalton Conley compares whiteness to a language: "I’ve studied whiteness the way I would a foreign language. I know its grammar, its parts of speech; I know the subtleties of its idioms, its vernacular words and phrases to which the native speaker has never given a second thought." This metaphor emphasizes that white people do not think about the implications of their social status and the privileges that come with being white. Dalton, on the other hand, was surrounded by non-white people, so his experience made him understand the true meaning of being white.
