The vastness of the dark room
The narrator enhances the depths of the room's darkness through the employment of a simile in which the room's vastness is likened to that of a cave.
"Now the room was quite dark; it looked vast, like a black cave that had no end."
"… like a doll."
The children's playful nature as they fuss over Luke's pram and carry him around is emphasized when the narrator compares how they carried him around to a doll. The use of this simile thus enhances imagery.
"Luke was in his pram downstairs, and everyone fussed over him, and the older children carried him around like a doll."
"…like a small drum."
Harriet's pregnancy is one of a kind. Even though her stomach is flat, she feels a beat in it, and the narrator uses a simile to compare this beat to a small drum.
"Disbelieving, she had half sat up, looking down at her still flat, if soft, stomach, and felt the imperative beat, like a small drum."
The baby's eyes
"They were focussed greeny-yellow eyes, like lumps of soapstone."
This description enables a more refined understanding of the baby's eyes while also emphasizing their color.
Ben's rage
The narrator brings out the extent of Ben's rage when he compares how he fastens himself on the other nipple to a leech after being forcefully withdrawn from the other. The imagery of the baby as it intensely sucks on this nipple is made apparent.
"Ben roared with rage, fastened like a leech to the other nipple, and sucked so hard she felt that her whole breast was disappearing down his throat."
