The Shot Heard Round the World
Of central significance to the novel is Bobby Thomson’s home run which won the NY Giants the pennant on October 3, 1951. Thomson’s home run stimulated what is generally thought to be the most iconic play-by-play reaction in baseball history when newscaster Russ Hodges, unable to contain his excitement, called out “The Giants win the pennant” over and over again. The play went on to acquire its metaphorical reference “The Shot Heard Round the World.”
The Cold War
The novel is not really about baseball, however. Thomson’s home run fits into the overall sketch of America during the course of its unending showdown with the Soviet Union for world supremacy over the course of most much mid- and late-twentieth century. The metaphorical term given the political standoff between the two nations which never actually on the field of battle with each other is “Cold War.”
Toots Shor
Toots Shor used to be very famous. He owned a restaurant in New York City that even most New Yorkers had never actually been to, but by virtue of catering to the famous, Shor became one of the first to become famous for being famous. Which, if the metaphorical description given him here is accurate, is probably for the best:
“Toots Shor, a big lumbering man with a face like a traffic accident.”
Physical Description
Indeed, the author engages the metaphorical qualify of comparison most often when using similes to describe character. It is a decision which makes a lot of sense; the book is jam-packed with characters both major and incidental. Sometimes, the simile is so simple as to almost past by unnoticed:
“She was not so pretty in direct light, with a sad wash under the eyes and a spatter bruise on her upper thigh, like an eggplant dropped from a roof.”
What We Think We Know
Some similes create a comparison that we can only imagine and we know it. Others are so concrete and universal that almost everybody can immediately create an accurate image. Then there are those comparisons to things we think we know, really don’t. The distance between doesn’t really matter, however, because the point of the comparison is usually based on what we think we know rather than the unknown reality:
“I live a quiet life in an unassuming house in a suburb of Phoenix. Pause. Like someone in the Witness Protection Program.”
