Like a smooth brown fresh flower
When Xuma meets Eliza, he is awestruck by her beauty. The narrator employs a simile to emphasize how Xuma perceives her, writing that she is "like a smooth brown fresh flower."
Strong as an ox
The gold mine doctor uses the simile "strong as an ox" to assess Xuma's capacity to continue working after he wounds his leg on the axle of the truck he is made to push alone.
Held him like a vice
During an altercation with Dladla, in which he tries to slash Leah with his knife, Leah manages to show her strength by holding his arm. He struggles to break free, but her grip is so strong that he can't wriggle free. The author uses a simile to underscore her strength, writing that "Leah held him like a vice."
Take the dirt away
After rendering Dladla unconscious by stomping on his face, Leah asks the people around her to "take the dirt away." She is referring to removing Dladla from the premises, but is using a metaphor to liken him to worthless filth that needs to be swept out.
Like a devil in his blood
After Xuma moves into his own room in Malay Camp so he can forget about Eliza, he finds he can't get the memory of her out of his body and mind. Using a simile to underscore the extent to which her memory possesses Xuma, the author writes that Eliza was "like a devil in his blood."
