An order (Metaphor)
Although Meredith doesn’t want to go with her mother to pick up her father, she has to do this, for Sharon wants to play in a happy family reunion. The worst happens, when she is asked to hug him. Her mother is polite, but “there is steel beneath the honey”, Meredith understands that this is not a request but an order which she doesn’t dare to disobey.
Child molester (Metaphor)
Sharon tries to hide her age. The woman does care about her appearance a lot, dresses nicely, looks attractively, her make-up is done and her mood is playful, but everything is in vain. Charles “worships youth”; he is only interested in children.
Infected (Metaphor)
It would be an underestimation to say that Meredith’s neighbors were less than happy to see her father. They don’t even try to hide their hate. But Meredith doesn’t blame them, she knows that they have every right to be full of anger. Her mother and she “deliberately host the virus”, help the molester, which means that they are on his side.
Not worthy (Simile)
When Meredith leaves her room without her mother’s or father’s permission and runs away to Andy and his mother, Paula Mues, she knows that her father is going to come there. The worst thing that Mrs. Mues and Charles had an affair many years ago, not to mention that it was he who raped Andy. This means that he is going to recognize her. Paula Mues asks the girl to calm down, for she is “as good as invisible” to him. She means that she is no longer good-looking, while Charles can’t stand ugliness.
A bomb (Simile)
The clock in a room of Meredith’s grandmother “ticks like a bomb”, for the confession Meredith’s mother is about to make is a real bomb. She says that there is nothing Charles could do that would drive her away. These words destroy the last bits of Meredith’s hope.
Strong and healthy (Simile)
Meredith wants to live safely, which is not possible with her father in her life. She can’t help but hope that he dies, but her father is “as healthy as a damn ox”, strong, relatively young and determined to get what he wants. Nothing can stop him.
