A Soft, Defenseless Underbelly
"Like throwing yourself on the ground the way an animal does, exposing your soft unprotected defenseless underbelly." (Ch. 1)
In this scene, a very high Charles Freck is contemplating his current interactions with a policeman, and he's considering just pulling over and surrendering, despite not actually being accused of anything yet. This simile highlights the absurdity of Freck's mental processes; it's a rather charming image, actually, although silhouetted against the serious nature of what's actually happening, it's a red flag to the reader that Freck isn't exactly in his wits at the moment.
A Rubber Ball
"Ahead, one of those giant shopping malls surrounded by a wall that you bounced off like a rubber ball--unless you had a credit card on you and passed in through the electronic hoop." (Ch. 1)
This simile, coming from the mind of the same high Charles Freck, is a humorous description of an interesting phenomenon in this futuristic, consumeristic world. It appears that drug addicts have become such a problem that they're being kept out of formerly public places by something like a clean, impregnable force field. Only if you have a working credit card can you make it into the mall, so Freck is forced to live outside the gates.
Bank Robot Voices
"Fred's voice is like one of those robot computer voices down in San Diego at the bank when you drive in, perfectly toneless and artificial." - The Lions Club Host (Ch. 2)
In this scene, "Fred" (Bob Arctor's undercover operative name) is about to give an informative lecture to the Lions Club, talking about the nature of undercover narcotics work. The host is describing the features of the scramble suit Fred is wearing, including the vocal scrambler that hides all individual features such as inflection, making his voice sound like that of a robot. This simile is perfectly apt and rather prescient, considering the loss of personality that accompanies Arctor's loss of mental function as a result of Substance D.
A Laugh Like Something Breaking
"Barris laughed. Always he had been a strange laugher, Charles Freck thought. An unreal laugh, like something breaking." (Ch. 3)
Jim Barris is an interesting and unnerving character. He seems increasingly inhuman as the novel progresses, and this particular simile (again from the mind of Charles Freck) emphasizes this oddness. His laugh is so strange as to be almost unreal; instead of joy, it communicates a sense of something breaking. This "something" might well be breaking, as Barris only laughs at things he finds funny, which are generally not popular opinions and often come at the expense of others.
Looking Like Hell
"The girl, directly before him, said firmly, 'You look like hell, mister.'" (Ch. 3)
When Arctor enters the New Path rehab center to investigate its connections to Substance D, he is instantly taken for an addict, and the staff workers react accordingly: their regimen is to belittle and guilt the addict into stopping his addiction, and they treat Arctor the same, insulting him to make him feel bad about himself. This simile, despite being cliché, has relevance to the plot: by this point, the effects of Substance D are turning Arctor into a kind of husk, and his physical appearance reflects that fact.
