Opening Lines
The opening of the novel situates it as being a metaphorically rich endeavor. Readers take note: if the opening paragraph of a novel is filled with metaphors and/or similes then you can bet the farm that the rest of the novel will be equally so. The opening line of the opening paragraph commences things and from here the rest of the opening paragraph is an overflowing cornucopia of figurative language.
“Silently, it extracts these stories from the raw matter of living, matter coughed up like lava from the melted core of existence, mind, yours, ours.”
Theme
The theme of this novel is somewhat difficult to pin down exactly. It is instead a rather broadly covered expanse of thematic exploration about the myriad types and means of love. There is, however, one unusual and expressive metaphor which perhaps serves as well as any other as narrowing down the focus of theme into a single image:
”the variegated etchings of the face of love.”
The Daemon
Two of the book’s three parts include the world “daemon” in the subtitle. This focus on a daemon is so pervasive that collectively it forms into imagery. Within that imagery, however, can be found a number of quite specific references to daemons through metaphor and simile:
“I allowed the daemon the domain of the inside, the deep down world where people did not see. The outside, the world of people and matter was my conscious control.”
The Web
Webs is another example of pervasive imagery punctuated through specific examples of metaphor. Much of the narrative is connected to the imagery of the webs, but perhaps Great Aunt Mai is the single character most strongly representative of the significance of the metaphor:
“Aunt Mai, long adapted to living in the social web, seemingly not disturbed by the questions it raises would probably tell me, `That is just how things are.’”
Descriptive Metaphor
Not all the usage of metaphor and simile is so broadly applied. The author keenly integrates such figurative language into the description of everyday mundane action as well. As indicated above, richly metaphorical language opening a novel is almost a sealed guarantee that the entire work will be populated by this literary device:
“I felt their eyes following me, accompanied by giggles that sounded like a shuffling of dry leaves in the wind.”
