Henry the Hippo
A hippo named Henry is the mascot and star attraction at the zoo-slash-amusement park that is the setting of the story. And it is Henry’s untimely demise and the mysterious circumstances surrounding them that sparks the plot. As a result, Henry is invested with metaphorically rich description throughout:
“Only his feet were visible, jutting above the surface, pale white now that the blood had drained from them. They were thick and stubby, looking like giant, moldy marshmallows floating in day-old hot chocolate.”
Marketing Genius
Choosing a hippo as the mascot of a zoo is perhaps not the first idea that comes to mind. After all, they don’t really do that much even when you see them filmed in the wild. But as the narrator learns from the billionaire brain trust that created the park, marketing is not about what is, but what can be perceived:
“But merchandising wasn’t about selling reality. As J.J. often pointed out (incorrectly): “Mickey Mouse is just a rat in suspenders.”
And now that the narrator draws attention to it, just how does the Mickster keep his pants up? He’s got neither suspenders nor a belt and those shorts don’t exactly look too tight for him.
Character Description
Metaphor is always useful for describing character. Especially the simile with its built-in nature for comparing things. A strong simile can be more efficient at describing the physicality of a character than an entire paragraph of plain description. For example, this description of Doc:
“He was a tall man, well-muscled from years of overpowering animals and baked brown from long days in the sun, with a mustache so thick it looked like a wooly bear caterpillar had fallen asleep on his upper lip.”
The Animals
And, of course, it should go without saying that a story that is set in a menagerie of animals is going to be heavily dependent upon metaphorical reference and imagery. With so many varieties and species to describe, the shortcut offered by the simile is a gift from the writing gods:
“A capybara is the world’s biggest rodent. It looks more like a compacted Airedale than a giant rat”
The Appetite of the Mob
Mob behavior almost seems special constructed for the use of metaphorical imagery. Depending on the size, movement, and intention, a mob-like crowd of people can be transformed into just about anything imaginable through metaphor; from a machine to an animal. Or even, in some cases, to very specific parts of an individual’s anatomy:
“Before I even had a chance to explain, the crowd swallowed me up again. Two seconds later, I was spit back out”
