Lethe ( Metaphor )
The author calls time – Lethe [the river of oblivion in Ancient Mythology]. Thus he shows that time passes and it takes away all the memories, the events, both good and bad ones.
Clean man ( Simile )
The author says that Hans was “as clean as a well-cared-for baby” . Here he shows how the man was soigné, maybe even too much, to the author’s mind, but this cleanness showed the status of the man.
Blank page of life ( Metaphor )
Mann calls Hans Castorp “unwritten page”. Here he says that Hans was a young man, who didn’t have any life experience, that everything was ahead for him. And his life book is just going to start being written.
Dead doll ( Simile )
When Hans’ Grandfather died, the boy said that “death that made Grandfather himself look so strange; not like Grandfather at all, more like a life-size wax doll , which death had put in his place to be the centre of all this pious and reverent spectacle.” Here the author shows the particular way of boy’s perceiving of the death: he doesn’t believe that his relative is dead – he’s like a motionless toy for him.
