Ghostly - “In the Fall”
James narrates, “Perhaps because of his loneliness, and during a short February day and along February night he (his father) drunk and talked and slept inside the bootlegger’s oblivious to the frozen world without until in the next morning’s…and the horse was standing like a grey ghostly form in the early morning’s darkness.” The metaphoric "ghostly" reference alludes the horse’s scary appearance, which could be ascribed to the aftermath of being in the snow for long. The horse waits upon James’ father patiently despite the chilling implications of the snow.
Rock - “The Boat”
The narrator relates, "My mother despised the room (the narrator's father's disorderly room) and all it stood for and she had stopped sleeping in it after I was born... Still the room remained, like a rock of opposition in the sparkling waters of a clear deep harbour, opening off the kitchen where we really lived our lives, with its door always open and its contents visible to all." Rock alludes to the room's permanent disorganization. Contrasting the room with a harbor implies that the other rooms are neat and well-organized; hence, it is the only odd room in the house. Seemingly, the narrator's father is disorganized men' thus, the room can never be anticipated to be orderly at any moment.
Savage - “The Boat”
The narrator reminisces, "And sometimes there would be bitter savage arguments. One afternoon I was coming in with three mackerel I'd been given at the wharf when I heard her say, " Well, I hope you'll be satisfied when they come home knocked up and you'll have had your way." It was the most savage thing I'd ever heard my mother say." The metaphorical savage depicts the brutality of the mothers' argument. She uses ferocious words to push her husband so he can stop their daughters from working. She is not impressed by his approval of their lifestyle because she is a conventional and conservative woman.
Willowy- “The Boat”
Then narrator expounds, “the daughters of the room and of the house were very beautiful. They were tall and willowy like their mother.” Describing the daughters as ‘willowy’ underscores their magnificence and femininity. They epitomize the delicateness of women.
Asthma - “In the Fall”
James explains, “For the past three or four years Scott has had heaves. I guess heaves come to horses from living too near the ocean and its dampness; like asthma comes to people, making them cough and sweat and struggle for breath.” James likes the horse’s heaves to asthmatic heaves to underscore the implication of dampness on animals. Heaves are scribed to coldness; hence, it is not commendable to expose one’s animals to cold.
