What is the author's style in In the Suburbs by Louis Simpson?

In the Suburbs is one short analogy, comparing middle-class life to a form of unconscious devotion. Analogies are similar to similes (they both may use "as" or "like") but often extend the terms of comparison. They also frequently attempt to explain the abstract in terms of the concrete. In this case, the middle-class is the abstraction, and people walking to the temple singing is the concrete term.