Foreshadowing
Barely into the second paragraph, the first-person narration of Gus Landor engages a simile as foreshadowing. “And outside the window, a wisteria shoot, snapped off the main stem, waggling like a gallows. I never noticed that before.” The opening paragraph has Gus contemplating the expectation that within the four hours he will be dead. The context is left open for the time being. The reference to the “gallows” when looking at the wisteria is highly suggestive foreshadowing of the means of his demise, of course. It is the secondary thought commenting on his lack of observation, however, that is really suggestive evocative of his past which resides in the reader’s future.
The Thirteenth Step
Alcoholics love metaphors and similes. Or, for that matter, anything available that helps to shift the blame of their condition from weakness of character to circumstances beyond anyone’s control. “The very next day, I broke my vow of abstinence…I was on my way home to gather some belongings when what should come my way but the steps leading to Benny Havens’ tavern? I could conclude only that Fate had brought me here. For wasn’t my mouth dry as bone?” In this particular example, metaphor and simile combine to situate uncontrollable destiny as the figurative monster representing Gus Landor’s own brittle will.
Artemus Marquis
Somewhat like Columbo, Landor has almost immediately zeroed in upon Artemus Marquis as his only serious suspect in the gruesome murder he is investigation. In this instance, however, Landor sends a young Edgar Allan Poe to do conduct the psychological torture upon the suspect that is the famous TV detective’s trademark. Poe is sent to the Marquis household to insinuate himself into their daily life and then send reports back. He frames his impression of Artemus within metaphor. “He is reckoned extremely handsome, I believe, and a more susceptible soul might suppose that Byron himself had been reborn in all his beauty.” The metaphorical reference here to the poet, Lord Byron. More specifically, it is the adjective his life inspired, Byronic, which is used to describe someone with intense personality leading toward a romanticized darkness. Poe is hinting that less worldly types would find Artemus a brooding rebel without a case, but someone of sophistication would easily take him for a poseur.
A Dramedy
After having just been informed that a West Point cadet named Leroy Fry had hanged himself overnight, Gus Landor’s reaction is couched within an odd simile. “I felt in that moment as though I had stepped in at the very end or the very beginning of a large joke, and the safer course would be to play it out.” This state of uncertainly becomes yet another example Landor’s perceptual difficulties. He doesn’t notice the gallows in the wisteria. He claims, at least, not to have noticed that his path is leading directly to a favorite tavern which will tempt him away from abstinence. This example is more abstract and oblique, but combines with many other examples to subtly hint that Landor’s observational skills have perhaps declined with advancing age, Or, perhaps, have been impacted by something else.
Poe the Romantic
As might be expected, the most poetic use of metaphorical language in the book comes courtesy of Edgar Allan Poe in his missives sent from the Marquis manor to Gus Landor with updates on his progress. Although engages for the services of investigation, his reports read like gothic stories. “How can it be that two seedlings from one tree, twining themselves so tenderly round each other, could tend in such shockingly opposed directions...the one toward Light, the other toward Darkness?” The seedlings mentioned here reference the family tree which produced Artemus and his sister. It should be mentioned Poe’s reports on Landor’s chief suspect become increasingly centered upon his sister, Miss Lea Marquis, with whom Poe quickly becomes besotted. Although perhaps besotted is not quite strong enough to describe a person capable of being seen as an angel of goodness in comparison with an apparently demonic sibling.
