The Day Was Flat (Metaphor)
Stuart opens Shuggie Bain with the sentence: "The day was flat." In this metaphor, Stuart uses figurative language to emphasize how Shuggie, the point-of-view character, feels about his environment. Rather than a day full of promise, the day is "flat," suggesting there is an oppressive hopelessness in the air as Shuggie goes about his dreary day.
The Peat Happily Released the Damp (Metaphor)
When hiding from a man threatening Shuggie for trespassing, Shuggie lies in a wetland area of tall weeds and waits for the man to go elsewhere. Stuart writes: "He lay there so long that his front was wet through, as the peat happily released the damp from the last rain into his clothes, dead earth having no use for it." In this metaphor, Stuart uses figurative language to personify the peat moss Shuggie lies on, writing of the peat as though it is capable of the human emotion of happiness as it unleashes water it doesn't need into Shuggie's clothing. In reality, Shuggie's weight acts on the moss and his clothing absorbs the water that squelches out.
Like Bags of Heavy Butcher's Meat (Simile)
While describing Shuggie's neighbor, Stuart writes that "his feet hit the floor with a thud, like bags of heavy butcher's meat." In this simile, Stuart emphasizes man's weight and sluggishness by likening the sound of him getting out of bed to bags of meat landing on the floor. The simile immerses the reader in Shuggie's perspective while adding an edge of grimness with an unpleasant comparison.
As Knots in Wood (Simile)
After Agnes attempts to commit suicide, Shuggie goes to stay with his estranged father and his father's new partner, Joanie. Stuart writes: "Joanie had become like a villain in [Shuggie's] mind; her reality and her legend were mixed deep inside him. Agnes’s hate for her was as ingrained in him as knots in wood." In this simile, Stuart emphasizes how deeply Shuggie has internalized his mother's hatred for Joanie by likening the abstract feeling to physical knots in a piece of wood. Like knots in wood, Shuggie's negative opinion of Joanie has become a difficult-to-extricate part of him.
Like So Many Headless Babies (Simile)
When detailing Shuggie's supermarket job as a chicken roaster, Stuart writes: "They sat there, with their stubby wings crossed over their fat little chests like so many headless babies." In this simile, Stuart emphasizes the gruesome nature of Shuggie's work by likening the dead chickens to headless baby corpses set out in a row. The comparison conveys Shuggie's aversion to his work by evoking revulsion in the reader.
