Dialogue
The thing about the use of metaphor that differs in this novel from the standard utilization is that the figurative language is often put into the mouths of characters. Very creative similes typically are relegated to the narration—an expression of the author—rather than characters themselves. Not so much in this case:
“Another day he say, ‘I notice Teena have a nice figure you know, she does walk like a wave moving in deep water.’”
Narrative Vernacular
The particularities of the use of metaphorical language in the story is inextricably tied to the West Indian patois of the idiosyncratic narration. The narrator is an interesting character who isn’t really a character, but is—that is to say, he is not an actual character by name or instance, but quite clearly belongs to this subculture. Therefore, metaphors and similes abound throughout the story, but are given a creative little tweak through narration to make them sound a little different:
“Bam! Pound notes and fivers start to fall all about in the room, until is as if he swimming in it, and the water-mark rising higher and higher!”
Syl
Syl is the name of the main characters. It is through metaphorical language that much of the descriptive quality of the men at the center the story is conveyed. A lot can be surmised about a character through such comparisons:
“As for Syl, he restless like a racehorse at the starting line. He getting up and sitting down, walking around the room, knocking anything make of wood, and whenever he get the chance he asking either Bat or Gallows if they think the thing nice, and if she would spend the night with him.”
Misogyny
Make no mistake, this a story about men. There are some important female characters in it, but they are importantly only as they relate to the lark the male characters are going on. Important to remember, too, is that the women are being described either by the definitely male or the friends to whose subculture he obviously belongs:
“Well you know what I mean. The thing is, you have to know how to treat them. I am a professor of womanology, boy. If I had five little fingers, I could wrap them around all of them.”
Time Passages
The passing of the seasons is always fruitful for the use of metaphor. And in this book that is absolutely overflowing with this literacy tool, you can bet that it is used even for such mundane description. But even in those examples, the author somehow manages to make it sound poetic:
“The last rose of summer was fading when Harry Banjo come out of jail, but the rosiness of the future help him to forget the past.”
