What effect do the underlined words " george remained as lonely as a single palm in a desert oasis " have on the reader

It describes the situation and allows the reader to visualize and imagine how lonely George truely is. Impacting the reader and letting the reader to see things through Georges 'shoes'

Based on the excerpt from the story "Subha” by Rabindranath Tagore, the device that the passage illustrate best is characterization. Characterization is a literary device that refers to a detailed introduction of a character. In this case, the little girl was introduced by describing the place where she went and how it made her feel.