Results of Gwendolyn's language endowment
In praise of her mother's language skills, and her unique, magnificent and utterly bemusing ability to manipulate words to her own best interest, the narrator compares the way she was able to smooth difficult details, comparing this smoothness to that of water using a simile. She writes: "She is gifted with language and is able to layer difficult details in such a way that the result is smooth as water." The use of the word "as" facilitates this comparison enhancing the narrator's emphasis on her mother's language skill.
She is a magician (Metaphor)
With regards to her mother's ability to curate difficult details using exemplary language, the narrator uses a metaphor in which Gwen, her mother is referred to as a magician. This clearly emphasizes on her ability to manipulate situations using language. The effect of her ability is further emphasized on with the use of a simile: "She is a magician who can make the whole world feel like a dizzy illusion. The truth is a coin
she pulls from behind your ear."
The sound of Gwen grinding her teeth in her sleep
When Gwen, the narrator's mom is angry, she is reported to move her jaw around invisible gum. At night, the narrator says she could hear her grinding her teeth in her sleep. The narrator compares the sounds she makes to the sound of gravel under a car's wheels: 'When she was upset she moved her jaw around invisible gum. At night, I could hear her in her room, grinding her teeth in her sleep. The sound was like gravel under car wheels."
James' response to Dana calling him "Sir"
After Gwen allows James to talk to his daughter, James asks Dana whether she is afraid of him. She answers him referring to him as Sir. James then says calling him sir makes him feel like an overseer. The simile enhances the reader's conceptualization of the feeling as that of a great person: "Don’t call me sir, Dana. I’m not your boss. When you say that, it makes me feel like an overseer.”
Gwen's body smell
The narrator uses a simile to compare the smell of her body to that of flowery perfume. This particular comparison enhances imagery as the reader is able to imagine the smell as a nice smell rather than a foul one. : "She always smelled good, like flowery perfume..." Additionally, the narrator contrasts her mother's usual smell when she says that she sometimes smelt like "... and sometimes like my father’s cigarettes."
