The narrator also compares Tess to a "fly on a billiard table of indefinite length and of no more environmental importance than this fly." Comparing Tess to a fly, he says that her life is small and unaffected by her surroundings, as she works on a huge farm and doesn't really matter, much like a fly. The narrator also states right after this quote that she looks a lot like a heron, of no real importance to the valley. She and her environment are unaffected by each other. The only way Tess has changed is that her mind has become duller. The narrator describes that "Tess followed slowly in the back." Tess has changed to follow the pragmatic but lethargic routines of life on the dairy farm and goes through the daily motions of getting through the