Story conjured out of a box (metaphor)
Due to the plot, Isabel, one of the main characters, finds a trunk on her living room floor. In that trunk was a journal, a diary of an English woman Anna, which she was writing her life story in. Later, she gave this box to Amal and he said, that ‘This is a story conjured out of a box’. By such a metaphor, the author meant that the story emerged from the box and the adventure of unfair destiny, and true love began there.
Eyes that speak (metaphor)
When Amal was examining the trunk he found there a picture, a painting of a young woman. This woman caught his sight, he couldn’t stop looking at her, especially because of her eyes. ‘But her eyes are the strangest shade of blue, violet really, and they look straight at you and they say — they say a lot of things’. He noticed strength in those eyes, willfulness but also a kind of humor. Amal claimed that such a look could ‘wear’ a woman when she wants to ask a man for a dance.
Heart swelling with joy (metaphor)
This metaphorical phrase was used by Anna, when she was telling about her husband Edward. He has returned from war and changes totally; he became cold and indifferent. But Anna still loves him, though he isn’t as romantic as two years ago, when she ‘... sat by the pavilion and watched, my heart swelling with joy when he glanced smiling in my direction after a good run, or when we rode together and his leg brushed against mine’. She desires those times to come back and they will be happy couple again.
Like a creature devoid of a reason (Simile)
Anna said these words about herself, when she couldn’t manage to cope with her emotions and control her feelings because of her husband. ‘I was like a creature devoid of reason: I wept into my pillows, I paced the length of my chamber, I opened the casements to the cold night air and leaned out and wished — God forgive me — that I had not been so resilient in physical health that I might not catch a fatal chill and make an end of my unhappiness’. When her husband visited her from time to time, he was tender and affectionate to her, but he always left her. Anna didn’t want him to go, she wanted him to stay forever and in such times she was like a gutless, little creature.
Millennium like Birthday (Simile)
Isabel said this to some of her acquaintances. She was explaining that for their generation every new century is a surprise and all the people of that time wanted to meet the millennium. Isabel, however, compared millennium to a birthday and people to kids, which wait for this joyful day. ‘I thought maybe it’s like birthdays...’ ‘I mean,’ she says, looking down, considering her fingers still resting on the fork, ‘you know how when you’re a kid every birthday has this huge significance?’ And after this she mentioned that life doesn’t change after birthday and there is nothing special in it.
