What metaphors are used in Town and Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer?

Railroad trains have long been a goldmine for writers looking to create inspired metaphors and similes. From the clacking sound the produce to the imagery of links in a chain to the self-containment of society on those taking passenger cross-country, trains just about have it all. Leave it to a talent as large as Gordimer to extricate from the morass a genuine striking and original metaphorical conception for mainstay.