Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [390]

“What else can we do? None of this is fast enough.” … “It will have to be.” He stood up, a tall, broad wall of a man. “Why don’t you ask around, see if anyone in the neighborhood knows anything about martial arts. You need more than a book or two to learn good dependable unarmed combat.” … I looked up at him, and he looked more like a wall than ever, standing and waiting. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 390

Note

A three-beat use of one simile: ‘a wall of a man’ first reads as bulk and shelter, then gets repeated from the daughter’s sightline as ‘more like a wall than ever, standing and waiting’ — protection re-cast as something that will not move, will not be argued with. The repetition is what converts the image from comfort to a quiet verdict on her father’s limits.