Numerical Mean
The narrator is pondering his place within the universe through the microcosmic concept of social structure. “I was the physical embodiment of the numerical mean.” This self-addressed metaphor is a comparison to being completely average. He sees himself existing halfway between the oppositional extremes. The “mean” in math is essentially the very middle point of the average between a set of numbers. The narrator does not see himself as an individual identity at all much less as particularly special.
Normality
The narrator makes what seems to be a simple statement of perceptual observation. “I emerge from the bathroom as though everything is normal.” This statement is more significant to the overall story and theme than it seems. The big revelation that explains what has been going on is all about the idea contained in this simile. Normality is presented as being capable of existing as a metaphorical state as a literal state. His assertion of perceiving reality “as though” it is normal rather than seeing it as actually being normal is a philosophical manifestation of the entire narrative.
Prison
A stranger named Terrance is trying to manipulate the narrator into taking a post aboard an orbiting space station to which he has been resistant so far. “Habitual, comfortable activity is the worst kind of prison because the bars are concealed,” Terrance tells him. The argument behind this manipulative device uses the metaphor of being in prison without even realizing it. Terrance is trying to convince the narrator that if he chooses to remain on his isolated farm going about the same daily drudgery characterizing his life so far, he will never experience anything new or different.
Barns
The narrator later offers a counterargument to Terrance within his own mind as he muses about the realities of farm life as he knows it. “I’ve been told these old barns are physical reminders of an older life, when things were different. They need upkeep. They need to be restored.” The metaphorical imagery here situates barns as the definitive symbol of farming. As such, the life the narrator lives becomes not a prison of drudgery because he experiences nothing new, but an essential cog in the machinery of remembering history. He is a caretaker of the old and experienced rather than a pioneer in exploring the new and unknown.
Beetles
Throughout the story, the characters have intermittent confrontations with large rhinoceros beetles. They are presented as unfamiliar yet disgusting, ugly yet fascinating, and impossible to eradicate completely. The beetles become a metaphor for the mystery of the unknown which is inevitable, both terrifying and interesting, and impossible to stop from intruding into our lives.
