Metaphor for Steven, Foreword
Sheba uses the metaphor of fresh garden vegetables wrapped in a clean white hankie, and mushrooms fresh from the soil, for Connolly's body the first time she saw him undress. This speaks to her vision of him as something clean and new and his innocence emphasized by the virginal whiteness of the hankie and the mushrooms straight from the soil are a metaphor for Sheba's belief that she was the first woman he had sex with.
Simile of Connolly's Hair, Foreword
Barbara compares Connolly's hair to the spun fiberglass snow that used to be sold as a Christmas tree decoration, because she finds it sinister and a little creepy in the way it hangs limply from his head, shiny in an opaque kind of way and like it has been hung on his head as an afterthought rather than grown on purpose.
Simile of Sheba's Candour, Foreword
Barbara has not come across many people as brutally honest and blunt as Sheba and says that her "throwaway candor is as exotic to me in its way as a plate in an Amazonian tribesman's lip". Barbara has never met any true upper class people prior to meeting Sheba and so finds everything about her like something from another world. Barbara feels that her candor is something from another world, or from a different tribe entirely and it is as startlingly unusual as a jungle tribesman's jewelry.
Simile of Sheba as a Giant, Foreword
Sheba would often fall asleep in her niece's bedroom and looks like "a giantess" in the wrong house; she is far too tall for the bed but also not nearly delicate enough for the princess bed which is themed pink and white. Her hands and feet are large and her feet, which are rather rough, dangle over the end and are so plainly out of place in such a frilly environment.
Simile of Linguistics Professor, Chapter Two
Sheba's only extra-marital encounter prior to Connolly was with a visiting linguistics professor from Finland. As she was getting out of the cab they shared he made a clumsy pass at her, but seemed angry with her for attracting him and was rather use when she didn't jump at the opportunity. This is why she likes Connolly who doesn't have the experience to be angry with her. Sheba says that he wants to "gobble her up like a peach" and stresses the gobble element as it illustrates that he is hungry for her and his appetite to voracious to be patient; he wants to eat her all at once like fruit, eating everything.
