“Their absence made everything look different, like a fresh haircut exposing a band of untanned skin on a forehead” (pg. 2) (simile)
Early in the book, Luke describes the appearance of his backyard after the trees have been cut down. He compares this to a haircut that exposes untanned skin. This metaphor, which evokes a rather odd-looking phenomenon, emphasis how strange and unnatural the area looks without trees.
“Stop Jen? That’s like trying to stop the sun” (pg. 127) (simile)
After he hears nothing from Jen after her rally, Luke sneaks into her house and is surprised by Jen's father. Her father explains that Jen is dead, and then asks Luke why he didn't try to stop her. Luke replies by likening Jen to the sun.
This simile emphasizes Jen's brightness and strength of character by likening her to the sun, which provides light and warmth for the whole world but obviously cannot be stopped by any mortal person.
”He’d read a story in one of the old books in the attic about a bunch of kids finding a deserted pirate ship, and then a skeleton in one of the rooms. He’d be like that skeleton. And now that he wasn’t allowed in rooms with uncovered windows, he’d be a skeleton in the dark“ (pg. 15) (simile)
Luke becomes confined to his house after his backyard is developed for a Baron housing complex, and he mournfully compares himself to a skeleton in the dark. This simile makes clear how unhappy Luke is about his lack of freedom, and how he feels it is equivalent to losing his life and becoming a skeleton.
“Or—he remembered something he’d read in a nature book—maybe he was like the prey of a snake that hypnotized its victims before it ate them” (pg. 62) (simile)
When Luke first meets Jen, he is paralyzed by fear. He has just broken into her house, and furthermore, he has never met a girl before. This simile makes it clear that Luke feels he is overpowered by this young woman, even though he was the one who broke into her house.
“At twelve, he knew better, but sometimes still pictured the Government as a very big, mean, fat person, two or three times as tall as an ordinary man, who went around yelling at people, 'Not allowed!' and 'Stop that!'” (pg. 2) (simile)
Luke's family must hide him because of rules made by the Government, and they must follow the other strange and conflicting directives sent down by the Government as well. It is for this reason that Luke imagines the Government as a large and rude person.
