Pope with his miter (Simile)
When Renee’s friend Manuela says “Holy cow!” being affected with the woman’s appearance, Renee unused to hear such phrases from her, compares Manuela with the Pope “forgetting himself and shouting to the cardinals, Where the devil is that bloody miter?” This comparison adds some strength to Renee’s impression, makes it more vivid.
Mountains like azuki (Simile)
Once Renee was watching a Japanese film and she told that the most beautiful moment there was the following one: SETSUKO, her face radiant Tell me, Mariko, why are the mountains of Kyoto violet? MARIKO, mischievously It’s true. They look like azuki bean. Such metaphorical comparison shows how deeply and inspired the Japanese see the world. They don’t see just the mountains, as, for example, the Europeans see them: huge or snowy or something like that. Japanese see everything poetically, in a certain harmony and atmosphere. In that movie the characters see the mountains of Kyoto cherry-violet. The don’t see just a shape, they see the “mood” of the nature. It’s very special feature of their mentality: to see inner world in the outer one. And Renee loves this moment so much, because she is no less delicate than the characters of her favorite film.
Mister (Metaphor)
Paloma names one of her parents’ guests “Mister Forgive-me-I-knew-not-what-I-was-doing”. The man didn’t know the subject of the conversation well, so he was saying not correct things. But Paloma knew what the true facts were, and naming him in such way she derided at him and showed that she was smarter than this person.
The down side of “I love you dear” (Metaphor)
Once Paloma was shopping with her mother, and as she didn’t like this kind of time spending, she wondered where she could hide, while her mother was buying something. She went to the fitting room, but there was a man, who “looked as dejected as Neptune when he’s missed a shot at Athena’s hindquarters. That’s the down side of “I love you dear.” Using such metaphorical speech, Paloma actually shows the prosaism of love, how ordinary and even constrained in some way the man is demonstrating his love to his woman.
