Hobbyhorse (metaphor)
The topic of animals is very important for Elizabeth Costello. She even has issues with her daughter-in-law concerning this subject – Norma lets her children eat meat, which is unacceptable for Elizabeth. The narrator calls the topic of animals his mothers “hobbyhorse”, which metaphorically represents her obsession.
Numbing numbers (metaphor)
In her speech, Elizabeth Costello refers to concentration camps of the Third Reich with a purpose to bring to the minds of the hearers how many people have been killed in those camps. Millions. As she says, “these are numbers that numb the mind”.
Polluted Germans (metaphor)
Still talking about the sins of the third Reich Elizabeth called the Germans of a certain generation “polluted in the very signs of their normality”. This pollution is represented in their loss of humanity, as only people deprived of humanity might do evil things the Germans during the Second World War have done.
Tributary stream (simile)
Elizabeth Costello in her first lecture reveals her own thought on being of reason supporting her ideas by different allusions to historical events. She says that it probably would be the best way for her to join to the great Western discourse of man versus beast “like a tributary stream running into a great river”. But she does not want to win the acceptance in this way, something resists within her.
The guest at the lecture (simile)
After his mother has finished her lecture, the narrator sees hands in the audience, people have questions. At that moment, he does not understand why his mother has agreed to answer the questions, as “public lectures draw kooks and crazies like flies to a corpse”.
