Taiming as a rudderless boat
When Taiming’s father switches from practicing traditional Chinese medicine to modern Western medicine, Taiming is still taught by his grandfather, who has very traditional views. The narrator, therefore, compares Taiming to “a small, rudderless boat drifting between the currents of two epochs” to emphasize that he finds it difficult to develop a coherent set of values.
The warrior
Taiming sacrifices all his time and energy to provide tutorials for his students. To illustrate how dedicated Taiming is to fight against his students’ ignorance, the narrator says that he is “like a satisfied warrior who has fought well and can tell himself as his lifeblood is draining out that he has served honorably and should have no regrets.”
Emotional winter
Taiming has a crush on Hisako, and he develops strong feelings toward her even though he knows that they cannot be together. However, when she eventually rejects him, all his feelings are numbed, and he loses his energy, which is illustrated by the metaphor “Winter came to both Taiming and the ground on which he was walking.”
Tsuruko
When Taiming is pursuing a degree in Japan, he focuses entirely on his studies and has no time for entertainment or even human interactions. Only “Tsuruko looked after him in a most inconspicuous manner, watering the otherwise dry expanse of his everyday life.”
Men are snacks
One of Taiming’s friends compares love to candy and men to snacks, explaining why the women frequently change their partners because they get bored easily: “Hu, there are some formidable women in Shanghai who say that love is like candy. They get bored if they have to eat chocolate all the time, so they change snacks now and then. [...] I wouldn’t mind being one of their snacks.”
