Like Half-Peanuts Glued All Over (Simile)
Midway through The Hate Race, Clarke recounts how she develops keloid scars as a teenager. Clarke writes of the strange marks on her skin: "Then the small, flat pink circles began to grow. … At first they were subtle indentations, like braille. Then they puffed up higher and higher, grew hard and shiny, like half-peanuts glued all over my body." In this simile, Clarke illustrates the progression of the unnerving buildup of hard tissue by comparing the keloid scars to braille bumps that grow to the size of half-peanuts embedded in her skin.
Built Like a F--king Truck! (Simile)
As a young teenager, Clarke starts her first romantic relationship with a charming private-school student named Mick. They spend time together on weekends and at the local youth club venue, The Barn, but when Clarke asks if he wants to come to her house, Mick refuses, saying, "I've seen your dad out jogging. He's built like a fucking truck!" In this simile, Mick compares Bordy's muscular body to a truck to explain why he is afraid of meeting him, concerned about what Clarke's father might do to him if he disapproved of their relationship. Clarke finds this preposterous, knowing her father to be a dull maths professor.
I Enjoyed Drawing Blood (Metaphor)
In high school, Clarke joins the debate team, discovering that she likes her role as the third speaker on her team of four. Clarke writes: "It was the third speaker’s job to shut the argument down—to take everything the other team had said and cast doubt on it; to summarize and demolish their team’s argument beyond a shadow of a doubt. I liked the position. I enjoyed drawing blood." In this metaphor, Clarke emphasizes the aggression of her performance by likening her oral arguments to physical attacks on her opponents, fighting until she can see them bleed.
Cut the Air (Metaphor)
While dating her second boyfriend, Marcus, Clarke gets uncomfortable to hear him ostensibly compliment her skin tone, saying that he finds the contrast between the brown back of her hand and the pink palm to be cute, like a possum paw. Clarke is stunned to hear her boyfriend compare her to an animal, which has been a common insult tactic of racist bullies. Clarke writes: "We walked on towards his house, side by side. You could have cut the air between us with a knife." In this metaphor, Clarke uses a figure of speech to highlight the awkward tension that lingers. While there isn't literally something to cut through, the stilted energy seems to fill the air between them.
Butterflies Flapping Around in My Stomach (Metaphor)
When she hopes to land the role of Viola in Twelfth Night, Clarke is so eager to see the cast list that she arrives early to school on the morning the director posts it. She writes: "Standing at the back of the small cluster of eager thespians, I felt butterflies flapping around in my stomach." In this metaphor, Clarke illustrates the anxious sensation in her gut by speaking of the feeling as though literal butterflies are flapping their wings inside her.
