The Scottish Heritage of the Stirlings
The narrator uses the following simile to describe the pride that the Stirlings felt of their Scottish heritage, "...perhaps even more so, but with Kilmartin firmly situated in the border counties, the Stirlings clung to their Scottish heritage like a badge of honor." The Stirlings were proud of their heritage just as people are proud of their badges of honor.
Culture shock
Michael Stirling returned from India and he suffered from culture shock. It is described as, " The humid air, redolent with spice and flowers, had shocked his every sense. It had felt almost like an assault, leaving him drowsy and disoriented. And while his reaction to London wasn’t quite that dramatic..." He likens the culture shock that he got from India because of the weather like an assault.
Grief
John was the earl of Kilmartin. He had died suddenly and left behind a young widow. The grief that Michael and Francesca are described using a metaphor. The metaphor is as follows, "They’d all been in pain then, wounded animals lashing out at anyone in their way. It was supposed to be different now." They are likened to wounded animals because they were in pain after the death of John Stirling.
India
Michael wrote to Francesca from India. In the letter, he likened India to the parks in London using the following simile, "Most of all, I think you would enjoy the pleasure gardens. They are rather like our London parks, except far more green and lush, and full of the most remarkable flowers you have ever seen."
Francesca's complexion
Francesca compared her complexion to that of Michael using a simile. She says, "She’d most likely end up with a ghastly tan, or at the very least freckles, but she supposed she’d always look like pale porcelain next to Michael, whose skin marked him immediately as a recent returnee from the tropics." Francesca likens her complexion to that of pale porcelain because Michael's complexion was tan since he had just come back from India.
