Comparisons between people, animals and inanimate objects

The line between objects, animals and people is blurred, perhaps intentionally, by the author throughout the novel, in order to show the potential for anthropomorphization of the inanimate and animals, and also, subsequently, the potential for the dehumanization of people.

The scene is initially set when the crowd which Victor overhears, before joining, the "thick- throated rumble of the daily commute" (location 126) and, then, the protest starting. It is compared to thousands of flies knocking against thousands of windows, and how he wants nothing more than to fly away and "watch the border recede below him like a line of marching ants following a trail of sugar to its source" (location 108). The author appears to use this imagery in order to place humans within the context of their natural setting, highlighting how ultimately detached people have become from nature, and...