Giant Helium Balloon (Metaphor)
Lewis compares the subprime mortgage market to a giant helium balloon, "bound to earth by a dozen or so big Wall Street firms." He explains that each firm on Wall Street held a rope, but realized over time that, no matter how hard they pulled, the balloon would eventually take off and lift them up with it. So they released their grip one by one, allowing the balloon to drift off the ground. This metaphor illustrates the ways in which the firms were bound to the subprime mortgage market, and the ways in which it was doomed to grow too big and destructive for them to control.
Bombs (Simile)
In the second to last chapter, Lewis refers to the incoming financial crisis as something that could no longer be controlled. In preceding chapters, he had traced what led up to the crisis and how it might have been avoided. In this last chapter, however, he shifts to illustrate just how inevitable the crash became after Wall Street acted so badly. He compares the market to a bomb that was about to go off, on a set timer. As he says, "it was as if bombs of differing sizes had been placed in virtually every major Western financial institution. The fuses had been lit and could not be extinguished. All that remained was to observe the speed of the spark, and the size of the explosions." This simile helps readers to understand that the catastrophe had become inevitable, and hugely destructive, and all anyone could do at that point was watch it happen. It also helps to explain that the disaster did have a number of levels; not everything happened all at once, but rather at different speeds and scales.
Tug of War (Simile)
More than once, Lewis compares the subprime mortgage market to a tug-of-war. He attributes this comparison, above all, to Greg Lippmann's view of the market. For Lippmann, it seems as though Wall Street pulled on one side—making the loans, packaging the bonds, and repackaging the worst of them into CDOs and then, when they ran out of loans, creating new ones out of thin air—and, on the other side, there was his army of short sellers betting against the loans. For Lippmann, the trade can be compared to any situation in which there are two clear sides, each trying to take a bit from the other.
Two Men in a Boat (Metaphor)
Although Lippmann originally envisions Wall Street vs. the short sellers who bet against the loans as two sides engaged in a tug of war, he is forced to change his view to a new metaphor once the financial crash begins: that of two men in a boat, tied together by a rope, fighting to the death. As Lippmann envisions it, "one man kills the other, hurls his inert body over to the side—only to discover himself being yanked over the side." This metaphor helps to illustrate how the fate of the short sellers and the people on Wall Street became dangerously intertwined. Whereas the relationship was once more like tug of war, once the market crashes, it becomes impossible for one side to win without also hurting themselves.
Belly of the Beast (Metaphor)
In his epilogue, Lewis traces the financial crisis of 2007-2008 back to the practices first begun in the 1980s. He states that, "There was an umbilical cord running from the belly of the exploded beast back to the financial 1980s." This metaphor illustrates both the origins of the 2007-2008 crisis, and the horrific nature of the disaster. By referring to the crisis of 2008 as an "exploded beast," Lewis makes clear that he sees it as a monstrous problem—one that is both huge and also menacing. He also comes back to the idea of an "explosion" having taken place, which speaks to the extensive nature of the disaster. At the same time, the idea of an "umbilical cord" connecting this beast back to the 1980s connects the "monster" of 2008 back to its "mother," the bad practices and ideas begun in the financial 1980s.
