The simile of a sympathetic comrade
The narrator uses a simile to explain to readers how she was treated. The narrator says, "Though not the aficionado he was, I had spent many summer vacations humoring him. Now he treated me like a fellow enthusiast, viewing me as a sympathetic comrade, a person who shared his first family's blood but not its resentment."
The simile of a neutral entity
The narrator compares her position to neutrality. She says, “These evenings, he offered no explanations for himself, unaware that I expected them. For him, I was something like Switzerland, a neutral entity, but he hoped he could be swayed. I went along with everything but laid in wait for him to reveal his true colors.”
Unfair contrast
The narrator thinks it is unfair for her grandfather to compare her grandmother to his wife. The narrator knows well that her grandmother was dynamic, but she was affected by illness, which prevented her from exploiting her full potential. The narrator says, "It was an unfair comparison. His wife was now healthy, but my grandmother had been sick her whole long. Two ectopic pregnancies between the three children she'd delivered had ravaged her body, weakening his already ill frame."
