Similes: The Writer or the Mother?

In the first half of “A Life’s Work” we briefly touched upon Cusk’s use of metaphors and similes to describe motherhood. However, as I read through the second half I began to notice even more the extensive amount of comparisons that were made in order to describe aspects relating to motherhood, especially the use of similes. For example:

“Suddenly our life was like a drama in which a bomb is being disabled against a clock”

“It was if she were fighting to emerge from quicksand”

“...I was ready for her, trained and vigilant as a soldier”

“...sleep is something you have to learn, like table manners”

“Watching her was like watching a film running backwards”

“...an atmosphere of reprimand like a headmistress’s study”

“Like Mary Poppins, like someone in a fairytale, she is on the side of the children”

“...who are in and out of bed like jack-in-the-box all night...”

I think the use of similes is exceptionally helpful in the case of this genre of writing. For one thing, I think it helps breach the gap between mother readers and those readers that are not mothers. The concern of a limited audience or an audience who cannot fully understand the situation because of lacking a personal experience can better understand motherhood through comparisons. I’m curious as to whether Cusk included a large amount of similes in the hopes of providing a better understanding to non-mothers.
As a writer, you take into account similes, metaphors, hyperboles, alliteration, personification, etc. There are many writing techniques utilized to enhance the style of your work. When I read through the second half of Cusk’s work though, I didn’t think of her utilization of similes as a way to enhance the style of her work or simply to provide comedic relief (as I felt some of the similes did). I felt that in some situations, providing a comparison was the only way to possibly describe it. Is it that explaining motherhood requires comparisons because there are simply not the words to do it alone? I felt as though that was the case. Especially for those who have not experienced motherhood (as I have not), providing these comparative images helped give a glimpse into the emotions of being a mother. For example, the simile, “Like Mary Poppins, like someone in a fairytale, she is on the side of the children” immediately brings forth emotions of comfort and relief because Mary Poppins has the connotation of being the perfect nanny and fairytales always end with ‘happily ever after.’ In my opinion, Cusk’s use of similes and other forms of comparisons in her writing really added to the text in terms of understanding, style, and humor.
Perhaps the biggest question I want to raise though is was Cusk’s extensive use of similes due to the writer within her or her desire to really capture the experience of motherhood? Or both? Would her writing have included this extensive sense of comparisons had her writing topic been about something else? Is it the mother using the similes or the writer?