Metaphor - Death and Sleep
Larry says of his pipe dreams, "Mine are all dead and buried behind me. What's before me is the comforting fact that death is a long fine sleep, and I'm damned tired, and it can't come too soon for me" (13). To Larry, death is like sleep and he is very, very tired. This is a common metaphor in literature, and death is often referred to as the "eternal sleep" or the "big sleep." It is the ultimate shutting off, the ultimate withdrawal and cessation from the world. Depicting death as sleep also allows one to mitigate its horror by suggesting that it is peaceful and familiar.
Simile - Morgue
Rocky comments, "Dis dump is like de morgue wid all dese bums passed out" (15). This is an apt comparison, for in a sense these men are dead to the outside world. They are not contributing to society, they are not living out their dreams, and they are mired in their own failures and regrets. Life is passing them by.
Simile - Kids
Margie sneers at Captain Lewis and General Wetjoen, "Jees, lookit de two bums! Like a coupla kids!" (114). Like the previous simile, Margie's comparison of these two feuding friends to children is apt because they are barely adults in the sense that they are emotionally stunted, greedy and ignorant, and have only the barest understanding of how to navigate real life. Use of the term "kids" cab also suggest innocence, or, in the case of adults, ignorance.
Simile - Parritt's home
Parritt comments that living in his house was "like living in a whorehouse" (110). This simile both gives us insight and tells us a lot about Parritt. Parritt likens his home to a whorehouse because it was not warm or safe; it is a place of transaction, not love. However, that is a point of view espoused by someone who is reluctant to accept new gender norms, new definitions of family, and responsibility for one's own actions. His mother's bohemian belief in free love was not something he could grasp, so his only recourse is to liken her behavior to a sex worker.
Metaphor - The Iceman Gag
Hickey's story of the iceman is a gag centered on a crude turn of phrase, insinuating that his wife is having a sexual dalliance with the deliveryman. But as Evelyn's murder is revealed, the joke takes on an ugly twist. The story can then be seen a metaphor for death coming for Evelyn, as Hickey himself symbolizes death. Along this line, when the "iceman" comes, putatively all delusions, pipe dreams, and false hopes are stripped away. "Ice" is also a slang term for murder.
