Simile: Mother
When readers first meet Mother, Desai writes: "She herself looked like a crumpled grey rag lying there" (7). This simile reinforces Mother's sickness and uselessness (the latter term not being an insult, of course, but a reflection of her sickness). Even the color grey is bland and lifeless, and the word "crumpled" suggests she is weak and fragile.
Metaphor: Modernity
On the way to Rewas, Hari listens to the bullock cart driver talk about the changes that are coming to the area. The man wonders, "What is this new disease?" (110). Though a very short metaphor, it is an effective way to suggest how modernity, industry, change, etc. are coming apace—they are taking over, they are swarming, they are attacking the health of fishing and agriculture and nature.
Simile: Hari's Heart
For a brief moment it looks like things might get better for the family when Mr. de Silva offers Father a job, but as soon as de Silva sees how drunk and dissolute Father is, he revokes his offer in disgust. Desai writes of Hari's reaction to this: "Hari led his father back to the hut, his heart like a stone inside him, heavy and cold" (56). Poor Hari saw a glimpse of hope that was then brutally snatched away. His heart is heavy and cold because he sees how useless Father is and what an upward struggle it is going to be to help the family survive.
Metaphor: Hari
Hari struggles mightily with his family's plight. Though young, he knows he is responsible for finding work and helping alleviate their poverty and suffering. Of course, this is an overwhelming thought, especially for a twelve-year-old, and Desai writes, "Hari wished he too could soar up into the sky and disappear instead of being tied to the earth here" (59). In this metaphor, Hari is something like a bird or a balloon, wishing he could "untie" the metaphorical strings that bind him to this place and take off into the sky where he can be free.
Metaphor: Wheel
Mr. Panwallah uses an effective metaphor to describe how life is full of change and opportunities to learn and grow: "The wheel turns and turns and turns: it never stops and stands still" (210). Hari embraces this as well, and remembers it when he is talking to Sayyid Ali at the end of the novel. A wheel turns in a cycle, returning to where it began from, and continues along its path without stopping. People, this metaphor seems to suggest, should embrace the ebbs and flows of life and keep moving forward lest they stagnate or fall too far behind.
