The Line Tender

“We headed over to the Country Store and, like magicians, turned quarters and dimes into gelatin-based sweets.”

Lucy uses the simile “like magicians” to describe how finding change and trading it in for candy feels exciting and wonderful to her and Fred. The word “magician” also conjures up associations of childhood, which characterizes how innocent and child-like Lucy is as the start of the novel.

“From his excitement, I would’ve guessed it was a megalodon.”

Lucy says this when she overhears tourists at the store excitedly discussing how a local fisherman has caught a shark. Lucy is clearly familiar with sharks since she uses the term “megalodon.” Lucy’s mocking tone suggests that sharks are a common part of her world, juxtaposing the tourists’ excitement.

“Maggie Kelly was tiny, but she walked with the thunder of a rhino.”

Lucy uses the metaphor “the thunder of a rhino” to demonstrate how Maggie Kelly has strength and commands attention, despite her frame. The comparison to an animal demonstrates Lucy’s interest in animals and brings up one of the book’s themes, The Interconnectedness of Humans and Nature. Maggie is one of several women in Lucy’s life who is a mother figure to her after her own mother’s death.