Metaphor of supernatural
The novel is intertwined with supernatural motives, and the metaphor of a goddess coming out of the sea shows how twisted reality may be. “A goddess who had dragged herself out of the ocean then become an ordinary old woman.” The indication that the goddess turns into the old woman, not a girl, presupposes wisdom.
Stuffed brain (simile)
Bella Donna does not suffer the lack of humor, as when she notes that her “brain is as stuffed as some old broken-down Commodore you see left in the bush.” The simile addresses Bella Donna’s cleverness, and offers an ironical, or even condemning, attitude towards the whites.
Educational hammer (metaphor)
The author touched the issue of education, and show indignation towards Australian education policy for Indigenous peoples, which, she claims, is “always out to destroy Aboriginal people like a record still stuck in the same grove”. The author continues: “this was the hammer that knocked away the small gains through any slip of vigilance. The faulty hammer that created weak ladders to heaven.” Heaven is metaphorically presented as the benefit of good education, and education policy for Indigenous peoples is presented as a hammer.
Individuality (metaphor)
When Oblivia was chosen by the black swan, she suffered a deep feeling of outsidedness. She thought that it was a bad premonition, but later it became obvious that it was a good one. She was chosen for not her ousidedness, but for her uniqueness, and “she feasted on a plague of outsidedness” later. The black swan has a symbolic meaning through the entire novel, and in the situation described it is an embodiment of never to think what others think of you.
Colour of a terrorist (metaphor)
“The girl was the colour of a terrorist, and terrorism was against the law.”
Bella Donna did not want to let Oblivia leave, saying that “people are going to stop and stare at you the very instant they see the colour of your skin, and they will say: She is one of those wild Aboriginals from up North, a terrorist”. Bella Donna wants to protect the girl, and she perfectly understands that the girl is neither a terrorist nor that the colour of her skin illustrates what kind of a person she is. But, being a wise woman, Bella Donna knows that prejudices are stronger than one’s own beliefs and opinions.
