Metaphor: Third Reich
The narrator offers several pieces of searing commentary about the Germans. In giving an account of the village in which Sissie works, the narrator says that "the blood of their young men was / Needed to mix the concrete for / Building the walls of / The Third Reich. But / Its foundations collapsed before the walls / were completed" (36). The metaphor used is a building that has blood mixed into the concrete, which refers to the edifice of Hitler's Third Reich—an edifice constructed with brutal violence and deeply compromised from its initial construction. What Hitler and many Germans were so proud of was, the narrator suggests, unworthy of any sort of respect or reverence.
Simile: West and East Berlin
The narrator uses similes to contrast West and East Berlin, two cities in Germany affected by Cold War politics and culture: "West Berlin– / As loud as a / Self-conscious whore at a / Gay last-night party / Aboard a sinking ship / East Berlin, / Quiet like a haunted house / On a Sunday afternoon" (59). West Berlin is loud and gaudy and painted like a whore and East Berlin is quiet and doomed; these similes show the differences between the two.
Simile: Room
Marija invites Sissie to her house and, once they've become comfortable downstairs, up the stairs to the second story. Sissie is surprised by the bedroom, observing that "The room indeed looked as if it were cut out of a giant rock that must have existed in the architect's mind" (63). The room is minimal, spare, masculine. It does not look like a space for women or love. The imagery/simile conveys why Marija might be so lonely and desirous of Sissie's company, as her home, represented by the bedroom, is cold and oppressive.
Simile: Wind
Sissie tells Marija that she is not going to be around anymore as she is leaving the next morning. Marija is upset and does not seem to understand why Sissie needs to leave. In response, Sissie becomes irritated at the woman, and the narrator notes, "A sudden gust of air blew across from the river as though a ghost had passed" (73). This simile suggests that something has died, departed—that the chance for these two women to come together in any meaningful way is moribund.
Metaphor: Running
Sissie has many criticisms about Africans who come to Europe to ostensibly better themselves and support their families back home but then remain there, refusing to return home. She sees the empty promises of Europe to those people, and notes how many of them are just "Running very fast to just to remain where they are." Most of them never actually help themselves or anyone else; they compromise everything and gain very little in return.
