The smell of the water in the yard
Michael Byrne, the narrator, has a room overlooking the yard. As he wakes up each morning, he pulls the curtain across and surveys the swamp. Even though the rain had ceased, the water behind the house is yet to subside and it's now a dull green color. The narrator uses a simile in which he compares the smell of the dirty water to the smell of a wet dog: “Although the rain had finally stopped, the water in the yard was yet to subside. It was a dull green in color now and smelled like a wet dog.” This simile enables a deeper understanding of the unfathomable bad smell of the water through heightened imagery.
The spinning paint lid
The imagery of the spinning paint lid is enhanced in the work through the narrator’s particular employment of a simile. He compares the spinning of the paint lid after flipping into the air to the spinning of a brightly colored tossed coin: “The paint lid flipped into the air. We watched as it spun like a brightly colored tossed coin.” In this way, the narrator facilitates imagery.
Charlie’s appearance on all fours
After Charlie jumps from the ring, he lands on all fours an image of which the narrator uses a simile to relate to a cat. While the use of the comparison evokes a visualization of Charlie’s appearance on all fours in the mind of the reader, it can also be argued to allude to the smoothness with which he landed on the ground: “He [Charlie] jumped down from the ring, landing like a cat, on all fours.”
The temperatures in the kitchen
Through the use of a simile, the narrator is able to directly compare the temperatures in the kitchen to those of an oven. This language use technique enables the comprehension of how high (or hot) the inside of the kitchen felt at the time through increased appeal: “The kitchen was like an oven, so I sat in the yard with Katie as we ate our tea together.”
A different world
The narrator compares walking on the streets on the side of the river to walking into an American TV show. The use of this simile enables the reader to develop a more furnished understanding of life on that side as relatively “high end,” almost as if it were out of a tv show—expensive houses and big cars parked in driveways. The narrator notes: “Walking the streets on the other side of the river was like walking into an American television show.” The streets on that side can thus be perceived as a kind of 'different world.'
