Subtle psychologist (Metaphor)
The author means that Mouret is a psychologist. But it isn’t in the direct sense. Mouret doesn’t work at the psychiatric hospital. His knowledge of psychology consists in the woman’s soul. He knows everything about the woman and what she prefers. He knows that if goods have a low price, woman will buy everything. She will buy something, if there is much to gain from it.
Competition over women (Metaphor)
The author doesn’t mean that men compete for women. It means that their boutiques compete. “It is for woman that all the establishments are struggling in wild competition, it is woman that they are continually catching in the snare of their bargains, after bewildering her with their displays.” Each boutique tries to attract women with their beautiful dresses and earns money.
Women’s clothes tells of their characters (Simile)
Henrietta’s “black silk dress, rustling against the door, produced a noise like that of a snake wriggling through the brushwood”, thus showing the clear imagination about her manner of the movement and costume.
Freshness of youth (Simile)
Geneviève and Denise’s “tenderness has sprung up in this gloomy house of old Paris like a flower in a cellar”, thus showing their unique beauty among the old and ugly atmosphere in the house.
