Sasha's brain likened to a computer (Metaphor)
"Sasha ransacked their own brain looking for the file, but it didn’t seem to be there" (29).
Slater is referencing Sasha's inability to accept a binary gender, and through this metaphor, demonstrates how non-binary identification is often not a choice, but something a person is born with.
As hazy as weed smoke (Simile)
"And then you were part of the other one-third, hanging in the hallways instead of going to class, or just drifting away altogether, away from school, away from that march across the stage, into a future that was as hazy as weed smoke" (65).
Here, Slater uses one of the substances that might contribute to a young person getting off track to reinforce the image of an uncertain future.
Violence like San Francisco fog (Simile)
"Violence was like the fog that swept in from San Francisco Bay on summer afternoons to cloak the city in damp shadow. Even in the bright sunshine, you knew it could roll in at any minute and chill you to the bone" (95).
In this passage, Slater is describing the violence that has pervaded Richard's childhood. Two family members shot and killed, two friends shot and killed, and other instances of casual violence like fighting in the street all contribute to a feeling of instability and disillusionment in Richard's life. This simile reinforces that sense of unpredictability while grounding it in the geography of the text.
The secret room (Simile)
"Discovering the existence of genderqueer identity felt like discovering a secret room" (37).
Slater relates Sasha's discovery of nonbinary gender as a secret room because, like a room, Sasha can choose to adorn it any way they please. Sasha's gender is their "space," and they can fill this space with all the terms and vehicles for expression that they wish.
The effects of crack (Simile)
"For users, crack meant poverty—whole lives stripped down like a stolen car, the parts sold off to pay for their next hit" (69).
Here, Slater uses figurative language to liken a crack addict's life to the self-destructive actions to which an addict might resort in order to feed their habit.
