The simile of the desert dust
When Blake and her two daughters were kidnapped by armed robbers, they were forced to surrender and hand over everything to them. When Blake took a closer look at the two kidnappers, there was one gunman whose health was not good enough because it was not far from that of Keira. Blake said, "The other gunman gave a humorless laugh. He was a tall, thin black man with skin that had gone gray with more than desert dust.” The health of the gunman’s skin is compared to the desert dust and this helps the reader to create a picture of what is happening on the ground.
The simile of Keira’s physical appearance
Throughout the story, Keira is depicted as a sickling child suffering from leukemia. She is extremely thin and unhealthy. When she was growing up, she was very beautiful but she is looking older now than her age because of the sickness. She is a twin sister to Rane but they do not look alike. While in the car in which they have been kidnapped, Eli Asks Keira about her age. When she says she is sixteen and a twin sister to Rane, Eli disputes by saying, "Well, I guess you’re not lying about it, but the two of you barely look like members of the same family – let alone twins.”
The Simile of Eli’s color
The two gunmen, Eli and the short guy looked unhealthy. However, of great concern was Eli who looked sicklier close to Keira's condition. When Keira was up and found out that they were under siege, she looked closely at Eli who was driving their car, and realized that he was unhealthy. The author writes, “She sat slowly, staring at Eli. His coloring was as bad as her own. She could not have helped noticing that, but she said nothing.”
The metaphor of World War Three
Eli is making a joke of Rane and Meda for their inquisitive behavior. Eli thinks that Rane is stubborn and she is a recipe for violence and bad outcomes. Eli says that with people like Rane and Meda, it is hard to avoid World War Three. World War Three is metaphorically used to represent stubbornness. Eli says, “I do not think I own you. Meda and your kid have a way with words., Dc. With more people like them, we never would have avoided World War Three.”
The metaphor of the rattlesnake
Throughout the kidnapping event, Eli and Ingraham looked sick and unhealthy. Blake tried to think that he can take advantage of their ill-health and attack them as one of the tactics to secure himself and her two daughters. When Blake realized that there was a big knife beneath his legs, he tried to pull it using all hi enough with no success. However, despite Eli looking unhealthy, he removed the knife with ease. Later, Eli showed Blake a scar on his hand and told him that he was bitten by a snake but it died almost immediately. The snake is metaphorically used to imply that Eli, Ingraham, and Meda are not ordinary people. They have hidden powers that are disguised in their poor health. Eli says, "A couple of weeks while I was helping with the building, I got careless about where I put my hand. A rattlesnake bit me. You know what, the damn thing died.” Eli wants Blake to think twice or thrice before doing anything stupid because he is not dealing with ordinary people.
