Near the beginning of the story, Waythorn reflects on what he likes about his wife Alice, using a simile and hyperbole in the process:
Her composure was restful to him; it acted as a ballast to his somewhat unstable sensibilities. As he pictured her bending over the child’s bed he thought how soothing her presence must be in illness: her very step would prognosticate recovery.
The simile here—in which the narrator describes Waythorn’s belief that Alice’s composure “acted as a ballast to his somewhat unstable sensibilities”—communicates how Waythorn relies on Alice for emotional stability. Ballasts are heavy materials (such as sand, iron, or lead) stored at the bottom of vehicles like ships in order to stabilize them. Like a ballast, Alice grounds Waythorn and keeps him from acting in erratic, emotionally-driven ways.
This is one of the positive effects of Alice’s commitment to prioritizing social etiquette above all else. That said, Waythorn’s expectation that Alice exists as a ballast in order to “stabilize” him suggests that he sees her as an object who exists for his benefit, a sexist belief commonly held by men at the time. He does not seem at all concerned about the possible negative effects this would have on her or if she would like him to offer her this kind of stabilizing support.
The hyperbole here—in which Waythorn claims that Alice’s “very step” would “prognosticate recovery”—is clearly an exaggeration, as it is not possible that simply by walking in a soothing manner Alice would be able to help her daughter heal from typhoid. The language here helps readers understand just how infatuated Waythorn is with his wife and how much he admires her composure (something he will, later in the story, come to deeply resent).
Near the beginning of the story, Waythorn runs into Varick on a crowded train on the way to work. During their short conversation, Varick uses a simile to capture his experience aboard the train, as seen in the following passage:
The two exchanged a word on the perennial grievance of the congested trains, and when a seat at their side was miraculously left empty the instinct of self-preservation made Waythorn slip into it after Varick.
The latter drew the stout man’s breath of relief. “Lord — I was beginning to feel like a pressed flower.” He leaned back, looking unconcernedly at Waythorn.
Varick’s assertion that he was “beginning to feel like a pressed flower” communicates just how crowded the train was and helps readers to understand how awkward Waythorn must have felt being so close to his current wife’s ex-husband.
In addition to bringing readers more closely into the scene, this simile also foreshadows how the two men will find themselves “pressed” together later in the story. While Waythorn would prefer not to have Varick in his life at all, he soon finds himself forced to work with the man professionally and then, through pressure from his wife and community, finds himself engaging with the man socially. While it’s possible that Waythorn could say no to interacting with Varick, like on the crowded train, he feels it would go against social etiquette to walk away.
When angrily ruminating on Alice’s deference toward her ex-husbands, Waythorn uses a simile to compare her to “an old shoe,” as seen in the following passage:
Her pliancy was beginning to sicken him. Had she really no will of her own — no theory about her relation to these men? She had accepted Haskett — did she mean to accept Varick? It was “less awkward,” as she had said, and her instinct was to evade difficulties or to circumvent them. With sudden vividness Waythorn saw how the instinct had developed. She was “as easy as an old shoe” — a shoe that too many feet had worn.
The simile here—in which Waythorn thinks that Alice is “as easy as an old shoe”—communicates his frustration over his wife’s tendency to prioritize keeping the peace over setting boundaries or asserting herself. He feels that he is starting to understand how, in becoming whoever each of her husbands wanted her to be, Alice lost her “will.” Here, Waythorn is indirectly commenting on the downsides of social etiquette, as it keeps his wife—and also himself—from being able to keep Alice’s ex-husbands out of their lives.
It is notable that Alice’s “pliancy” was something that Waythorn prized at the start of the story—he loved how she was always composed, since it made his life easy. It is only when her easy-going nature starts negatively affecting him that he starts to feel frustrated by it. This hints at how, as a man, he expects his wife to appease him but not other men.
When Waythorn reflects bitterly on Alice’s composure in her relationships with her ex-husbands, he uses a simile and a metaphor, as seen in the following passage:
The fact that Alice took her change of husbands like a change of weather reduced the situation to mediocrity. He could have forgiven her for blunders, for excesses: for resisting Haskett, for yielding to Varick; for anything but her acquiescence and her tact. She reminded him of a juggler tossing knives; but the knives were blunt and she knew they would never cut her.
The simile here—in which Waythorn states that Alice “took her change of husbands like a change of weather”—communicates his perception that Alice has no emotional reaction to marriage or divorce. While Waythorn used to admire Alice for her social etiquette and constant composure, at this point he sees it as a negative personality trait, as it means that she acts the same way toward him as she does with her exes. As Waythorn states, he could forgive her for “blunders” and “excesses” but not for “acquiescence” and “tact.” In other words, he wants to see her react to something so that he know she is able to feel something for him the way he feels something for her.
The metaphor here—in which Waythorn compares Alice to “a juggler tossing knives” that would never hurt her—again highlights how he believes Alice has nothing at stake in this situation. While Waythorn is in near-constant distress about Haskett and Varick’s presence in their lives—wishing that he and Alice could free themselves from having to relate to her ex-husbands—Alice is just stoically juggling all of them with no concern.
It is important to understand that this is Waythorn’s perception of Alice and not necessarily the “truth” about her character. While Waythorn views Alice as stoic and unperturbed, it’s likely that she is merely hiding and repressing her emotions in order to survive in their etiquette-obsessed society.
