Snowy saddle of fur (Metaphor)
At the beginning of the book, Ivan describes himself by saying he has a "snowy saddle of fur." The metaphor describes the distinctive white color of the fur that grows on silverback gorillas' backs.
My belly ballooned (Metaphor)
After eating a lot of food, Ivan compares his full belly to a balloon. The metaphor conveys the sense of his stomach bulging and expanding the way a balloon suddenly grows tight as it fills with air.
Patient as stones (Simile)
While outlining the difference between gorillas and humans, Ivan says that "gorillas are as patient as stones." The simile makes a comparison to something Ivan would find in his natural environment: to a gorilla, stones appear patient because they never move.
Like angry bees (Simile)
While recounting his infancy at Mack and Helen's house, Ivan says human words swarmed around him like angry bees. As he doesn't understand human language yet, he uses a simile to make an apt comparison to something he remembers from the wild: swarming bees. As Helen soon leaves Mack, the reader understands that the bee-like words were likely words of anger between her and Mack.
Parade of ugly insects (Simile)
After recounting his past, Ivan comments on how he keeps track of his time in captivity by marking Xs on the wall. Using a simile to express his displeasure at the Xs, he describes the nine thousand eight hundred and seventy-six Xs on his wall as looking like a marching parade of ugly insects.
