Tania’s letter (Metaphor)
The author metaphorically presents the letter as Tania herself, “the torn letter whitened on the floor and didn’t let him concentrate”. She and her family were the only white spot in Kovrin’s black and gray life. They always tried to help him get out of this obsession with a mysterious Black Monk. And even when he decided to leave them, they returned to his life again and again like those pieces of the letter that he threw off the window, but they are blown back by the light breeze from the sea.
The garden (Metaphor)
The garden represents here Egor Semenych’s soul, everything that was important for him. He was in his garden: “he lived for it, he always thought about it, he worried about it”. And we see that when he died, his garden began to decay too. They remained connected forever.
Atmosphere of feast (Simile)
The author uses this simile to show the importance of Kovrin’s being in Tania’s family: “When you used to come to us for the holidays or just without any reason, the house became fresher and lighter, like the covers were removed from a chandelier and furniture.” He was a ray of sun in their gray life. At first. Then he became their probation.
Egor Semenych’s disturbance (Simile)
Here the simile helps to open vividly E. S.’s character. “He looked extremely anxious, always hurried somewhere, having an expression as if he be late even for a minute, all will be lost!” And he always wanted to solve all his problems as soon as possible: it concerned his garden, the wedding of his daughter etc.
