What metaphors are used in Seize the Day by Saul Bellow?

Wilhelm often appears to be absurd and childish, and even then, longing for pity and condemning himself for it. In one scene, he muses: "It is my childish mind that thinks people are ready to give it just because you need it." In spite of a depth of self-recognition, he will burst out in infantile yells and preposterous gestures. Complaining to his father how his wife's conduct and her attitudes suffocate him, he grabs his own throat and begins to choke himself. A metaphor turns into a boy's antics.