Simile for spaceships and ghosts
“He looked at the craft beached around him. Shadowless in the vertical sunlight, their rounded forms seemed to have been eroded of all but a faint residue of their original identities, like ghosts in a distant universe where drained images lay in the shallows of some lost time" is an example of simile. Using "like," this quote compares the shape of the crafts which have eroded to ghosts. This paints a vivid image in readers' minds of what the crafts look liked and what the setting of the book is.
Simile for a lion's roar
"The lions’ roars sounded like the slamming of a steel mill" is an example of simile in the novel. Using "like," the author compares the roar of a lion to the slamming of a steel mill. Steel mills, by virtue of the kind of work that goes in there, are very loud places because of metal slamming against metal. That sound, like the roar of the lion, could be very loud and intimidating.
Metaphor for climate change
The drought at the center of Ballard's novel is a metaphor for climate change and how humans are destroying the Earth through their actions. Ballard draws a direct comparison of the cause of the drought (humans spilling chemicals) with how the Earth is being destroyed by humans and how that destruction is causing climate change.
Simile for ice
"The water ceased to move, and for a moment the great lagoon, and the long arms of brine seeping away northwards through the grey light, were like immense sheets of polished ice" is an example of simile. Using "like," the quote compares the state of the water with the sheets of polished ice. Polished ice, after all, are known for not moving at all. This simile emphasizes the state of the water and characterizes the lagoon even more.
Simile for car
"Stretching along the entire extent of the coastal shelf were tens of thousands of cars and trailers, jammed together like vehicles in an immense parking lot" is an example of simile. The quote compares the way that people and vehicles were lined up to the way vehicles would be lined up in a very large parking lot (crammed together, with little room to breathe). This comparison emphasizes just how desperate people across the world were to reach the ocean and ostensibly get a better life. As they traveled and then parked, the people in the cars were left little room to breathe and survive and thrive.
