What metaphors are used in The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard?

Japan becomes a symbol and a metaphor for the trauma of war. First on the island of Ita Jima and then the hills of Kure, Aldred begins his recovery in Japan. It is 1947 and two years after the great fires of Hiroshima, and then Nagasaki, had traumatized the nation. Aldred is in Japan to continue research for the book he has been petitioned to write, but the book in large part gives way to other considerations. In Japan, the scorched lands and disconsolate people provide the backdrop for the relationship between Aldred and Helen.