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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—Sex and Time:
In Chapter 13, Jordan and Maria finally make love to one another. The experience is earthshattering for both of them, their kismet connection both concrete and ineffable. Using the only words he can to describe the experience, Jordan attempts an extended metaphor:
For [Jordan] it was a dark passage which led to nowhere, then to nowhere, then again to nowhere, once again to nowhere, always and forever to nowhere, heavy on the elbows in the earth to nowhere, dark, never any end to nowhere, hung on all time always to unknowing nowhere, this time and again for always to nowhere.
Time stops for Jordan, in a manner of speaking, when he is intimate with Maria. The two characters connect on a deep level despite only knowing one another for a short period of time. Sex with Maria is a "dark passage" leading nowhere because it is not limited by time or space (as the two would like to feel and imagine). They exist in their own world, apart from everyone else and apart from the forward or backwards progression of time. Furthermore, the passage leads to "nowhere" because neither Jordan nor Maria have ulterior motives surrounding their coupling—they simply wish to be intimate, apart from the manipulations and tactics and battle plans that inundate their daily lives.
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