Middle Aged Man Simile
The narrator states that she was young but that she "hated like a middle-aged man at the end of his prime." When a man is beginning to feel that he is passing his prime, he often starts to be mad at the world. She is young, and has not really had time to develop such hate, but because of her experiences she has emotions that are typical of someone much older.
Trapped Animal Simile
The narrator states that she is like a trapped animal within her soul. Physically she does not feel trapped, even though she is. It is her mind that is trapped. She feels the constraints of her situation and the fact she both understands it and lacks the wherewithal to do anything about it is making her feel mentally and spiritually claustrophobic. She feels trapped by her circumstances and that makes her feel extremely fearful.
Fear Simile
The narrator's mother said that "fear is like a man who, once burned, is afraid of a glow worm." This comment points out the way in which fear can grow out of all proportion. A man who has been burned by a fire need only be frightened by another fire, of the same size, or bigger, but his fear has the opposite effect, and magnifies everything. Fear can make everything seem frightening once one has experienced some degree of whatever we are afraid of.
Fate Simile
"Fate is fixed like brittle crystal in the dark".
Crystal grows in the dark and it remains the same shape, form and size no matter what you do with it. It cannot be influenced, and fate is compared to this because the narrator believes that life is predestined. It is fate that directs her life, and no matter what she does she believes that she cannot change the outcome of it.
Present Day Africa Metaphor
Although the novel is set in the futuristic, post-apocalyptic version of Sudan, it is actually a metaphor for the nation in the present day. The author was inspired to write the book after reading about the weaponized rape of women in Darfur during the war there, and this post-apocalyptic version of the country mirrors exactly what happened in modern times.
