The Simile of the Peacock
When Zede visits the fat woman rearing peacocks for feather harvesting, she realizes that the plucking process is so painful to the peacocks, and she compared their mourning cry to a soul in torment. The author writes, “It had puzzled her at first why a creature so beautiful emitted a sound so like a soul in torment.”
Floating schools
Carlotta describes the environs of her home and the surrounding scenery. From the homestead, one can see the river. The author compares the fisherman’s tiny prahus to the floating schools of dried vanilla. The author says, "From their front yard, they could see the river, where the tiny prahus used by the fishermen slipped by, like floating schools of dried vanilla bean pods, as Carlotta's mother always said."
The simile of headdresses
Carlotta's mother makes feathered earrings and other related products, and she feels that the users do not appreciate her. Zede compares some of her feathered creations to the priests' attire. The author writes, “Sometimes her mother stayed on the street near the hotel and watched the gringas who bought her feathered earrings, pendants, and shawls – and even priest-like headdresses and wore them as they stamped up and down the narrow street.”
The simile of prison
Carlotta is born in prison by Zede does not want to talk anything about it to her daughter. Zede compares the prison to the confiscated Indian village. The author writes, “It was a prison that did not, anyway, look like one. It looked like the confiscated Indian village in the backwoods of the country it was.”
Zede
Zede's hair is compared to wispy curls found in straight hair. The author writes, “Even the hair that grew beyond the airline and into her face at temples and forehead formed wispy curls like those found in otherwise straight hair after a shower.” Men find Zede's hair sexy, and they cannot ignore to look at her.
