A wave of nausea (Metaphor)
After that fatal Thursday, Eva was so heartbroken that she couldn’t even eat, for food repulsed her at first. When she was visiting her mother, she “turned green” before her stuffed dolma. A sudden and rather strong wave of nausea made it physically impossible even to try to swallow a bit of her mother’s signature dish.
A wall of misunderstanding (Metaphor)
Before that Thursday Eva had never had any problems with communication. She was a smart woman and a perfect conversationalist, whose tales could easily mesmerize any listener. That was before she became a mother of a famous mass murderer. After that people either avoided her or wanted her to “spill my guts by way of making conversation”. However, Eva wasn’t ready to confide in strangers.
A stranger in her own country (Metaphor)
Eva had been always fond of travelling. She visited many beautiful, dangerous, but equally unique places to understand how really diverse our world was. Unlike Eva, Franklyn had never shared her love for different cultures. What was more, he accused her of not knowing her own country. Of course, it was truth. But she got a chance to learn more about her own country after Kevin’s imprisonment, when she had to travel to the same city almost every month and wait in the same cafe. She said that “what was arguably the most extraordinary empire in the history of mankind was staring me in the face”, it was the high time to get acquainted with the American culture.
Faithful (Simile)
Eva loved Franklyn with all her heart. So did Franklyn. His love was immeasurable and even slightly possessive. When he called her name, his call was “curt, demanding”. Eva wrote that she was “like a dog”. This simile was supposed to indicate Eva’s faithfulness to her husband.
Future (Simile)
Before Eva had Kevin, she couldn’t imagine herself in her sixties. In those days, sixty was an age “as bafflingly theoretical as a baby”. That meant that she couldn’t imagine herself being not young anymore. That was something that she couldn’t even comprehend.
Strong (Simile)
According to Eva, Franklyn looked good. He was built “like an oak tree”. He was “so sturdy and solid, so wide, so thick” that she felt as if she was protected from everything bad this world had to offer. He was like a tree, against which she could pitch her pillow and read.
