Love
The various ways in which love is manifested between human beings is a major theme of the novel. As a result, a number of metaphorical constructions are devoted to exploring the nature of love.
“Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.”
War
The irony of the situation, of course, is that this exploration of the facts of human love is situated within the context of the abomination toward love which is war. It is a complex exploration as the earthier aspects of love are juxtaposed against the brutality of battle:
“On the following morning an Italian sergeant shot his own captain, who had wanted to surrender, and Tiger tanks appeared out of nowhere and sat like ominous monsters at the crossroads, their hulls perspiring with the inhuman smell of oil and heated steel.”
Mythological Allusion
A popular way to draw a comparison between one thing and another has always been through the use of allusions to famous mythological figures. Obviously, type of metaphor is not nearly as prevalent as it used to be. For one thing, most of the population is not as familiar with mythology as it used to be. And for another, mythology and scripture used to be really the only two texts around. Still, it can be useful to get a point across:
“Struggling across the walls and fields, accompanied by that sticky smell of death, his hands slimy and slipping, he had felt like Atlas burdened by the world.”
A Real “Up” Narrator
The narration sometimes gets bogged down in melancholic contemplation that verges into the darker underbelly of existential dread. But, remember, war is all around and is even an invasive virus capable of poisoning the purity of love. Still, metaphorical imagery doesn’t get much gloomier than this:
“Life is a prison of poverty and aborted dreams, it is nothing but a slow progress to my place beneath the soil, it is a plot by God to disenchant us with the flesh, it is nothing but a brief flame in a bowl of oil between one darkness and another one that ends it.”
In Praise of Asymmetry
Symmetrical design gets a lot of press, but there are those who have forwarded very strong arguments that perfection is so unnatural as to cause distress and anxiety when viewed. This subtle sense of something being not quite right in the face of perfection goes way back and penetrates so deeply into some cultures that subtle asymmetrical additions to architecture be mandated. A character alludes to history in metaphorical conversation:
"Symmetry is only a property of dead things. Did you ever see a tree or a mountain that was symmetrical…if you ever see a symmetrical human face, you will have the impression that you ought to think it beautiful, but that in fact you find it cold… Symmetry is for God, not for us.”
