Bad Memory Simile
Bad memories can attach themselves like barnacles to the hulls of our lives. And, like barnacles, they have a disproportionately large amount of drag.
Barnacles, relative to the size of the ships they are attached to, are tiny in comparison, yet they manage to create enormous difficulty in moving the vessel forward. Elise likens this traction to that of bad memories and events. They are small in comparison to the size of our life as a whole, yet they attach themselves to our foundations and make it impossible to move forwards with any ease or success, but keep dragging us back to the time in which they were formed and the event that we have the bad memory of occurred.
Chocolate Simile.
All women like chocolate. It's like female catnip.
Nick is not sure whether or not he sent Elise the correct gift because he does not know if she likes chocolate. Elise explains that a man cannot be wrong when he gives the gift of chocolate. Chocolate attracts women in the same way that catnip attracts cats, they all love it and can smell that it is there for miles around.
Hindenberg Metaphor
The lawyer and I made plans for the next seven weeks. It looks like fun. Which is probably what the last Hindenberg passenger thought as he boarded the blimp.
The Hindenberg disaster is one of the most famous crashes in aviation history, and this metaphor shows that Elise believes that whilst the time that she and Nick will spend together looks like it will be fun and enjoyable, it is more likely to crash in the most spectacular fashion. Like the Hindenberg, it looks safe, and one wonders what harm can possibly occur, but also like the Hindenberg it is lulling its "passengers" on the journey into a false sense of security and will probably be an epic disaster for the ages.
Snake Venom Simile
He was like a snake without venom.
In describing her father as a sick old man, Elise compares him to a venomous snake. Although he looks the same from the outside, it is only his outward appearance that is the same. Inside, he is a shell of his former self and has none of the venom or the ability to cause harm that he had previously enjoyed. Like a snake with no venom he is now powerless to do any damage.
Training Wheels Metaphor
Elise asks Nick why he felt that he needed a contract, as she did not understand why he just didn't date and see what happened. He likened the contract to "training wheels" meaning that before going out into the dating world unaided, he felt that he needed the balancing safety and security of training wheels so that he did not fall badly or become hurt in the process before he was ready. Like training wheels on a bicycle, the contract allowed him to make the motions of dating without opening himself up to the dangers or pitfalls of doing so and getting hurt.
