Turned Her Into a Cat (Metaphor)
Early in the novel, Woodrell introduces the reader to Ree's family, highlighting how her mentally ill mother Connie's medication affects her. Woodrell writes: "Mom’s morning pills turned her into a cat, a breathing thing that sat near heat and occasionally made a sound." In this metaphor, Woodrell emphasizes the sedative quality of Connie's medication by likening her to a sleepy housecat.
Falls Like a Tree Limb (Simile)
In need of a vehicle to go out searching for her father, Ree asks her best friend Gail if she can borrow her truck. However, Gail's husband won't let them take it. When Ree expresses disappointment in her friend for obeying her husband, Gail "falls like a tree limb to the bed, crashed her face flat into the sheets." In this simile, Woodrell illustrates Gail's powerlessness and resignation by likening her collapse to that of an inanimate object succumbing to gravity.
Before Her Mind Broke and the Parts Scattered (Metaphor)
While Connie Dolly had once been renowned for her beauty and elegance, the onset of her mental illness means that people perceive her differently. Woodrell writes: "Long, dark, and lovely she had been, in those days before her mind broke and the parts scattered and she let them go." In this metaphor, Woodrell illustrates the invisible changes that occurred within Connie's brain by likening the transformation to a mechanical object breaking apart.
Like a Blue Plate Set on Edge to Dry (Simile)
After the bondsman delivers the bad news that Ree has only thirty days before her family home will be seized, Ree experiences a hallucinatory moment of panic and despair. As her surroundings morph, Ree sees "the sky [spin] upright like a blue plate set on edge to dry." In this simile, Woodrell emphasizes Ree's surreal sense of her surroundings by comparing the sky to a plate on a drying rack.
Like an Unspent Lightning Bolt (Simile)
Toward the end of the novel, Merab Thump and her sisters arrive at Ree's front door. Ree answers the door with a shotgun pointed at the women, the memory of their attack on her still fresh. Woodrell writes that "the shotgun felt like an unspent lightning bolt in her hands and trembled." In this simile, Woodrell emphasizes the immense charged power of Ree's weapon by likening it to a lightning bolt whose electricity hasn't dispersed yet.
