What metaphors are used in Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America by John M. Barry?

The book focuses on the Mississippi River, its geography, history, locale and the strong influence it exerts on the land, the culture and politics. Many of the book's most beautiful passages describe the river in various stages and at differing places. Throughout the book, the Mississippi River plays a dominant role in the narrative, the structure and the story. In fact, the theme of the river winds slowly but dominantly through the book in a fascinating manner, as a veritable literary metaphor of the way the river winds through America.