Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

Through similes and metaphors Z.Z. Packer cleverly engages the reader’s imagination to visualize the scenes in the story and understand the true meaning of each first-person encounter.

In this chapter, “Geese,” an African American woman moves from her run-down town to Japan as a means of escaping her current situation. Z.Z. Packer uses a large amount of similes and metaphors to give the readers the overall view of the interactions of this woman and the Japanese culture. The vivid details do not only describe the woman’s feelings, but show the readers the imagery that is sculpted by her words. Here are two great examples of Packer’s use of metaphors and similes. The first creates the scene of Dina and Ari sleeping in the same bed; while, the second depicts what Petra looks like after her accident.

Nevertheless, she nudged him, ran her palm against his arm, the smoothest she ever remembered touching, the hairs like extensions of liquid skin

Of course, Petra could no longer model; her face had been ripped into unequal quadrants like the sections of a TV dinner, and the stitches had been in long enough to leave fleshy, zipper-like scars in their place.

Without Z.Z. Pakcer’s use of words, the readers would find the story would sound very stale, as it lacks dialogue. Also, they would not understand some of the emotions that this woman is going through as she partakes in the adventures of being in a different culture.