Simile : Panic Attack
"The sensation was extraordinary, one of the worst attacks he'd ever had, like being naked, high up on a ledge somewhere, in full light, with beneath him only jeering voices and millions of eyes."
The likening of Captain Manning's panic attack to the feeling of being naked illustrates clearly just how vulnerable he feels as it is when we are naked we are at our most vulnerable. He feels not only physically unprotected, but emotionally naked and vulnerable as well. Being high up on a ledge is also a feeling of unsafety and of having nowhere to go, the only option for escape being jumping. The fact that he is likened to being in full light means both that he feels as if the spotlight is on him and could also refer to the light of an interrogation lamp as he feels that he is having to account for himself through an unwelcome interrogation. The jeering voices and a million eyes refer to the way in which he has built the secret of his homosexuality up to be bigger than it is; in reality millions would not be interested by the revelation but the panic that is increasing within him is making him feel like the attention of the entire nation is upon him.
Simile : Columns of Metal
"They wore identical grey smocks that covered them from neck to ankle and blended with the iron grey of the landing so that the women looked like columns of moving metal."
This simile refers to the female prisoners that Billy Prior sees for the first time when he visits Beattie Roper in jail. The women are put in grey, an unremarkable color that leads to each blending in with the other and indicates that individuality is both frowned upon and avoided by policy. They also blend in with their surroundings which indicates that they have become institutionalised.
Simile : Dog's Spine
"A stir of excitement ran along the lines, like the rise of hair along a dog's spine."
When a dog is worried or excited about something the hair on her spine will rise involuntarily, alerting her to the impending excitement or threat. This simile likens the way in which the line of people sensed danger or excitement in the same, primal way that an animal does, and that they seemed to physically rise up like the hair on the dog. It was also a very organic movement by nature, not by instruction or insurgence.
Simile : William's Power
"An image of William began to form in Prior's mind, tiny, but powerful, like the initial letter of a gospel."
William Roper is a seemingly small and insignificant conscientious objector, no more or less important than any other "conchie" imprisoned until they agree to fight with their fellow men. Prior likens him to the initial letter of a gospel. There are twenty six letters in the alphabet, all of similar stature in importance. They only have importance when they come together with other letters to form a word. William is like the initial letter of a gospel, because although he seems to be small, just a cog in the wheel, he is in actual fact the letter that sets the tone for the important words that are to follow. William, though seemingly powerless, is the driving force behind Beattie's actions and her reasoning for them, in the same way that the initial, leading letter of the gospel is powerful and is the driving force between the words that we live by.
Metaphor : Rivers as "Wallpaper"
"Rivers was a strip of empathetic wallpaper".
Prior's view of Dr Rivers as "empathetic wallpaper" is a metaphor for Rivers' ability to keep his own judgements and personality a complete secret from the patients he is treating. Like wallpaper, he is ever present in the room, but barely noticed for his own design or patterns. He is empathetic because he is quiet, listening and asking only the questions that mirror what his patients have had to say. He does not join in debate or engage in responding to the baiting that Prior invariably engages in. His "wallpaper" status is metaphorical of his job as a psychologist which is to be present but not to be the primary focus of the room.
Metaphor : Bashing The Bishop
"Bashing the Bishop" is a metaphor used by Prior and his school friends to describe masturbation. Their reference to a member of the Roman Catholic clergy is intended and this is also metaphorical of the fondling and abuse perpertrated on Prior and several of his friends by their priest.
