The Simile of the Grandmother
The narrator recalls the first time they moved to Maupaneng village in the year 1924. The village had about five thousand people, and it was located many miles from Pretoria. The narrator was five years old during this time, and he remembers the first posture of his grandmother when they arrived at the village. He compares his grandmother's size to fate, a mountain, and a mimosa. The author writes, "My grandmother sat there under a small lemon tree next to the hut, as big as fate, as forbidding as a mountain, stern as a mimosa tree.”
The Simile of a Leech
The narrator's grandmother had two daughters who worked and lived in Pretoria. He does not remember seeing them with husbands, probably because they did not find men of their preference. It is 50 years now since the narrator saw his grandmother and her two daughters, but he hopes they are all alive and well. He remembers that his grandmother's village clung like a leech when he says, "Things stand out clearly in my mind from those years: my granny, the mountain on the foot of which the village clung like a leech, and the mountain darkness, so solid and dense.”
The Simile of a Blue Gum Tree
The idea of going to school is paining the narrator because he views it as a punishment. The teachers are not welcoming, and they apply discipline ruthlessly, discouraging him from going to school. Eseki also dislikes going to school because it is very far from the village, and he has to walk many miles to get there. This particular day, he decided not to go to school but instead go to the mountains with his friends. When he comes home in the evening, his grandmother notices that he is not from school and asks him where he is coming from. Eseki cheats his grandmother that he is coming from school. Eseki's uncle comes and realizes that Eseki is cheating. He tells Eseki, "You were not in school, Eseki, and you’d better not deny,’ he said, towering over me like a blue gum tree." The narrator realizes that his uncle is angry, and he compares his towering to the blue gum tree.
The Simile of the Teacher
When seated at the communal fireplace, Old Riba reminds the boys of the significance of going to school if they want to be better people in society. More importantly, Old Riba stresses the importance of using education as a weapon to fight apartheid during the dark days. He reminds the boys to appreciate the teachers who are using punishment to make them learn to become better society members in the future. Old Riba says, "You boys should feel proud to have a teacher who wants to skin you alive at school. It is like making hard leather soft and tame enough to be used. The more lashes he gives you, the more it shows how much he wants you to work. Remember, he's like your father…..." Therefore, Old Riba compares the teacher to the father, who wants the best for his sons. Additionally, Old Riba compares the boys to the tough leather, which cannot be useful if not softened. That is achievable if the boys are skinned alive at school to acknowledge the significance of education.
The Simile of Old Riba
As a young boy seated in the communal fireplace, the narrator hated listening to Old Riba's wise words because he mostly insisted on the significance of going to school to get a better education. The narrator hated school with a seal because he considered it as a punishment. The narrator was, however, interested in the village gossip stories and rumors about Old Riba. It is said that there is a time when Old Riba was forced to jump into a cold river when the Boer attacked his home. He stayed in the river for the entire night while his head stayed outside like a water-reed. The narrator says,"He was said to have stayed the whole night in the water, with his head out like a water-reed: I delighted in the thought that he must have been a coward.”
