The Roar of a Seashell (Simile)
At the beginning of the novel, we are shown a luxurious picture of El Hadji's third wedding in action. As the wedding plays out, we are given the following description of the scene: "The laughter, the clapping of hands, the soft, melodious accents of the women and the thick tones of the men created an atmosphere of noisy well-being, like the gentle roar from inside a sea-shell" (4). By comparing the scene at this wedding to the inside of a shell, two primary qualities of the wedding are emphasized—that is, its insularity and artificiality. In the case of the former, note that, like the animal inhabiting a shell, the guests at this party are separated and contained from from the rest of the world—that is, the poverty and hardship that plagues the ordinary people of Senegal. In the case of the latter, consider that the noise which comes from a seashell is a mere simulation or recreation of the sea; in the same way, the scene of the third wedding is a mere simulacrum of wealth and happiness. In truth, no one knows that El Hadji and N'Gone are on thin ice, both romantically and financially.
The Cry of an Animal in Distress (Metaphor)
After the wedding night, when El Hadji confesses to the Badyen that he could not perform his duty as a husband, N'Gone lets out "the cry of an animal in distress" (24). This metaphorical language indicates that N'Gone feels terrified, like she is in danger, as a result of El Hadji's failure to consummate their union. Accordingly, this metaphor underscores that El Hadji's marriage to N'Gone is not yet completely sealed, and it shows the way in which N'Gone feels threatened as a result because she has not yet secured the wealth and security that she has been promised by both Yay Bineta and El Hadji.
Antique Woman (Metaphor)
When Rama and Pathé are out together, they reach the topic of El Hadji's xala, and Pathé eventually asks Rama how her mother is feeling about the condition. In response, Rama tells him, "Lovely man, do you really have any intelligence? My mother? She's just an 'antique'. Didn't she accept the second wife?" (45). By calling her mother an antique, she emphasizes Adja Awa Astou's age, but also her passivity in the face of the clear threat to her dignity that El Hadji's xala poses. At the same time, however, the antique metaphor also draws attention to the fact that Adja Awa Astou holds strange and unconventional value—in this case, the value that El Hadji places on her because she does not question him or stand in his way.
A Good Rider (Metaphor)
During one of El Hadji's visits to his second wife Oumi N'Doye, she is unable to get him to comply with her sexual wishes. As a result, she tells him, "You have to be a good rider and a young one to mount two mares at the same time, especially at a canter" (53). Here, the word "canter" is used to illustrate how El Hadji rushes from one wife to the other to perform his duties as a husband. However, as we know, his polygamist marriages are highly superficial and primarily physical, and this too is indicated by this metaphor through the image of the mounting of the mares. The physicality and stark motion of the mounting image connotes an insatiable libido rather than real love.
You are a Disease (Metaphor)
At the novel's end, a leper who breaks into El Hadji's home with the Beggar levies a series of critiques at him, telling El Hadji that he is "a disease that is infectious to everyone [...] the virus of a collective leprosy" (100). By equating El Hadji's predatory business practices with a debilitating and degenerative disease, he emphasizes the harmful and even deadly consequences bourgeois behavior has on the ordinary people of Senegal. Such people have lost their property and livelihoods because of dishonest and cheating businessmen like El Hadji. Moreover, by comparing El Hadji to a type of parasitic virus, the leper also implies that the country will only prosper if such comprador businessmen are removed, like an illness being cleared from the body.
