Miss Dent's Room (Simile)
During their sexual encounter, Blake observes the smallness of Miss Dent's living quarters and compares her room to a closet. This comparison serves to highlight the unequal power dynamic between the two of them. Blake owns a home in the wealthy suburbs of New York, while Miss Dent rents a small room in the city.
The Train's Smell (Simile)
Cheever employs simile several times in his vivid description of the commuter train, first comparing its smell to that of a bomb shelter, and then to "some dismal classroom." A bomb shelter represents safety, and a classroom evokes childhood innocence. Both these images represent the comfort that the commuter train usually offers to Blake. Yet in this story, the train turns out to be the opposite of safe.
Rain Clouds (Simile)
As part of a vivid sequence of imagery, the narrator likens the action of the moving rain clouds outside the train window to a camera shutter.
