The Box's Warning (Simile)
Inside the box holding the string is a delicate fabric covering the string. The narrator describes this packaging using a series of similes, characterizing the box as issuing a warning: “As if the box itself were warning you, trying to protect you from your childish impulse to immediately tear away the wrapping. As if the box were asking you to pause, to truly contemplate your next move." (p. 2). Due to the absence of any information about the origin of the boxes, the receiver turns to the box for guidance. The anthropomorphization of the boxes illustrates the receiver's autonomy in the situation. They do not need to look, and the delicate fabric offers a second chance to reign in their childish impulse.
The Ceiling In Grand Central Station (Metaphor)
Ben goes through Grand Central Station and focuses on the star painting above him depicting the sky from God's perspective. Ben uses this imagery as a metaphor for how the world is now: that humans can see things from God's perspective due to the arrival of the strings (p.10-11).
The Strings Set Ablaze in Europe and Over the Hudson (Simile)
Hank invites Maura and Ben to a sporting facility to hit golf balls as an outlet for their anger caused by the strings. Hank sees the news that during the celebration of Midsummer this year, young Europeans are symbolically throwing their boxes in the Midsummer bonfires as a rejection of the strings. After Ben works through his feelings towards Claire, sending gold balls towards the sun, he likens the slivers of the sun to a “small swirl of fire above the Hudson, like the bonfires on the beaches in Europe, swallowing the strings in their flames.” (p. 148). This simile illustrates that at this moment, he is having his bonfire moment too by venting his frustration towards his string.
A Smile Like Sunlight (Simile)
Amie initially decides to ask Ben if they can just be friends until she sees him at the post-wedding dinner talking and laughing with girls from his support group. Instead, she asks him to dance. She is nervous to ask him and uses a simile to describe his smile as providing her with relief "like sunlight" (p.290). Through this simile, she illustrates the feeling of warmth and relief that overtakes her body as she receives his smile, symbolizing his continued warmth towards her despite her not answering his confessional letter.
The Marriage Bureau Building Positioning (Metaphor)
Nina and Maura decide to have a courthouse wedding at the Marriage Bureau. The Marriage Bureau is closest to the building that issues birth and death certificates. The positioning of the buildings is a metaphor for marriage, as Maura explains in her point of view—it represents how couples vow to support each other through everything between life and death (p. 286).
