“Badged” girl (Metaphor)
Anna says that from her very birth she has always been “the girl with the sick sister”. Thus she shows the role which is assigned to her: she doesn’t have independent life of a common girl, she is just a shadow of her ill sister.
Kate is a black hole (Metaphor)
Ann indirectly calls Kate in such way, saying that “black holes…are so heavy they absorb everything, even light, right into their center”, and in the same time talking about Kate, she adds that in the case with her sister it’s “the same kind of vacuum; no matter what you cling to, you wind up being sucked in.” This metaphorical comparison helps the reader to understand Anna’s perception of her life with the background embodied in Kate, therewith the reader sees how deeply the girl feels the “doom” of her life near Kate.
Children like cartoon characters (Simile)
Anna compares children with cartoon characters, she says that they live like them: “…If an anvil drops on their heads they can peel themselves off the sidewalk and keep going.” Thus she shows how naïve are they and therewith she shows that she’s no longer a kid, and actually she was never really so.
The illness like an animal (Simile)
Sara compares Kate’s illness with a bear: it has stopped now, but it is free to decide when to roar again. This comparison shows how hardly Kate’s illness is perceived by other people, how greatly it influences their lives.
