Simile: Jes Grew
The Mayor asks his officials what the reports of Jes Grew are and learns that the people affected by it "were doing 'stupid sensual things,' were in a state of uncontrollable frenzy,' were wriggling like fish..." (4). The fish simile gives the reader an effective image of how sinuous, slippery, and frenetic the movements of the people under the "spell" of Jes Grew are.
Simile: Black Men in America
The state of the American Black man, particularly before Marcus Garvey came along, is alluded to through the use of a simile. The writer says that before Marcus Garvey, the typical Black person was laboring under a shadow of lassitude likened to a crocodile basking in the sun: “Until Marcus Garvey came along to rescue the American Negro, he was basking in his lethargy like a crocodile sleeping in the sun" (31). This suggests how crucial Marcus Garvey, of Pan-Africanism and the Back to Africa Movement, was in rousing Black people, waking them up to the untenability of their situation in America.
Metaphor: America
Reed packs multiple metaphors into one paragraph to give the reader an idea of how he feels about America. He calls the country a "tobacco auctioneer, a barker," a "traveling salesman who can sell the world the Brooklyn Bridge every day, can put anything over you and convince you that tomatoes grow at the South Pole," and a "smart-aleck adolescent who's 'been around' and has his own hot rod" (16). These brilliantly convey that America is loud, obnoxious, proud of itself, and, in many ways, a huckster and a charlatan.
Simile: Monsters
Hinckle Von Vampton criticizes the editor of the Sun, noting that his paper is going to ruin the bourgeoisie he purports to want to serve and that his falseness will “entice the monsters of your twisted dreams and they will surface like dead fish” (58). The comparison to dead fish evokes the image of rot and thus plays the role of a warning; Hinckle is coming after this man for impeding his plan, but he will first eviscerate him through language.
Simile: America
Hinckle Von Vampton has been living in America since 1890, so he has some idea of what sort of place it is. Using a simile, he says, “That’s America for you. Rumor stacked upon rumor like bricks in the Mason’s Tower of Babel" (59). The biblical Tower of Babel is an immensely tall edifice, supposedly tall enough to reach the heavens. Thus, it is an apt comparison for the amount of rumors Hinckle sees forming the foundation of America because it suggests a near-infinite, incomprehensible amount.
