River and Body (Metaphor)
Sarmiento uses the metaphor of a body with arteries and blood to discuss how the rivers in the country bring life and spirit (12).
Atmosphere (Simile)
"ought to be well suited to the temper of a people living under an atmosphere so highly charged with electricity that one's clothes sparkle when rubbed, like a cat's fur stroked the wrong way." (32)
Sarmiento likens the electrical charge of the Argentine atmosphere to a cat's fur rubbed the wrong way.
La Rioja (Simile)
"La Rioja, a lonely city with no suburbs, and withered away, as it were, like Jerusalem at the foot of the Mount of Olives." (86)
Sarmiento invokes the image of Jerusalem at the Mount of Olives to describe the state of La Rioja.
Buenos Ayres (Simile)
"Buenos Ayres was like a child, which, having conquered a giant, fondly deems itself a hero, and is ready to undertake greater adventures." (113)
Sarmiento compares Buenos Ayres's attitude with that of a child full of hubris.
Terror (Metaphor)
"The fact is, terror is a mental disease which attacks people like cholera, small-pox, or scarlet fever. Every one is liable to the contagion, and when the inoculation has been going on for ten years, it is doubtful if even the vaccinated escape." (130)
Sarmiento using the metaphor of disease to explain the pervasiveness of terror.
