Mountain and pebble in the valley
Upon first arriving to America, Fabiola feels overwhelmed by the vastness of it, resembling a mountain, while she feels like a pebble in the valley. The novel makes a full circle at the end with the same metaphor, only this time, Fabiola doesn’t feel like a pebble in the valley; she feels like a mountain herself.
Money metaphor
The novel ends with Fabiola’s change in perspective. She is no longer naïve and innocent, especially when it comes to money. She is aware of the irony of it, and compares it to falling rainwater, and the ability to catch it depends on how opened or closed the hand is.
Like the ocean
Fabiola describes her love with Kasim as the ocean, being deep and wide as the endless earth. She compares it to Donna’s and Dray’s, whose love is like a tornado. The unexpected, tragic ending of the love story is emphasized through the connection built throughout.
Guardian of the cemetery
Fabiola compares Dray to Baron Samedi, which is a guardian of the cemetery in Vodou, and is set on hunting him down and destroying him. Fabiola is not aware of just how much truth lies in her comparison, with Dray being the main cause, the initiator of the tragedy in her family, by killing her uncle, which is only revealed at the very end.
