Posh (Metaphor)
An evening in a bar with a glass of beer, wine or any other alcoholic beverage was a daily ritual for Miss Lonelyhearts and many other people who – just like him – hated their jobs, despised their wives, wanted to get away from daily routine. That evening was spent in a company of drinks and Shrike who was musing on the trivial topics and held his glass so elegantly that one might think that “the whole Borgia family was in his gesture.” He definitely knew how to look posh and sophisticated when he needed it.
Speechless (Metaphor)
Miss Lonelyhearts used to live a normal life and no matter how difficult his job of a leg man was, he had never felt as exhausted as he felt then. Miss Lonelyhearts and that never-ending pile of letters filled with desperate pleas drained him. There were evenings when he couldn’t even reply to someone’s greetings, for his tongue became “a fat thumb,” immovable and too heavy to even try to move.
Unbending (Metaphor)
In spite of the fact that Miss Lonelyhearts was engaged to a lovely young lady, he often spent his time in a company of Mrs. Shrike, the wife of his boss. The woman despised her husband so much that every minute spent away from him was a gift for her. The interesting thing was that regardless her hatred of Shrike, she refused to sleep with Miss Lonelyhearts and – consequently – “give Shrike horns.”
Home(Simile)
Home wasn’t a place where Miss Lonelyhearts could relax and have a rest after an exhausting day. Like many other dwellers of a megapolis, he spent not that much of his time in his flat. More often than not, he preferred an over-crowded bar to a quite homely evening. However, it wasn’t his fault, for his flat was “full of shadows as an old steel engraving.” It was simply not designed for living.
Harmless (Simile)
Miss Lonelyhearts was irritated. That happened every time when he spent time with Betty, his fiancée. She was “like a kitten whose soft helplessness” could make one “ache to hurt it.” She was too innocent, too kind, to cut a long story short, she was everything that Miss Lonelyhearts no longer was. Too perfect Betty only irked him.
Emotionless (Simile)
Before he even met Mrs. Doyle, he knew what she needed. The woman whose husband was described as incapable cripple was interested in physical intimacy she could get from Miss Lonelyhearts. Not to mention that she needed to pour her heart out and tell him the story of her life. Mrs. Doyle’s voice “as hypnotic and as a tom-tom, and as monotonous.” He found it extremely difficult not to fall asleep during her speech.
