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Definition of Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often... read full definition
Pastels
Explanation and Analysis—Pink, Blue, Lime Green:
In the chapter "Pastels," Patrick and his friends eat a fancy lunch at the titular restaurant. At one point they encounter another Wall Street banker, Scott Montgomery, with his European girlfriend Nicki, a well-dressed "definite model type" who seemingly does not speak English. She looks idly at Patrick and then down at the tiled floor, which Patrick describes using a simile:
Nicki smiles at me, then looks at the floor—pink, blue, lime green tiles crisscrossing each other in triangular patterns—as if it had some kind of answer, held some sort of clue, offered a coherent reason as to why she was stuck with Montgomery. Idly I wonder if she’s older than him, and then if she’s flirting with me.
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Lunch
Explanation and Analysis—Bloody Sponge:
In the chapter "Lunch," Patrick has a meal with a colleague named Armstrong who has just returned from a trip to the Bahamas. As Armstrong talks at length about the cuisine he enjoyed on his trip, Patrick has a brief and disgusting vision, which he describes using a simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Good question. As for dining out, the Caribbean has become more attractive as the island cuisine has mixed well with the European culture. Many of the restaurants are owned and managed by Americans, British, French, Italian, even Dutch expatriates …” Mercifully, he pauses, taking a bite out of his brioche, which looks like a sponge drenched in blood—his brioche looks like a big bloody sponge—and he washes it down with a sip from his Corona.
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Killing Dog
Explanation and Analysis—Banshee with Cape:
In the chapter "Killing Dog," immediately after murdering a man and his pet, Patrick goes to D'Agostino's and buys some cereal with a coupon, then runs back out onto Broadway. As Patrick gleefully flees the scene of the crime, he uses two similes to describe his sadistic feelings:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I get a small but incendiary thrill when I walk out of the store, opening the box, stuffing handfuls of the cereal into my mouth, trying to whistle “Hip to Be Square” at the same time, and then I’ve opened my umbrella and I’m running down Broadway, then up Broadway, then down again, screaming like a banshee, my coat open, flying out behind me like some kind of cape.
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Paul Owen
Explanation and Analysis—Hack:
In the chapter "Paul Owen," in one of the most famous scenes in the book, Patrick attempts to kill the chapter's title character with an axe. Patrick's narration uses a simile to compare the attack to a baseball swing:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I move slowly around the chair until I’m facing him, standing directly in his line of vision, and he’s so drunk he can’t even focus in on the ax, he doesn’t even notice once I’ve raised it high above my head. Or when I change my mind and lower it to my waist, almost holding it as if it’s a baseball bat and I’m about to swing at an oncoming ball, which happens to be Owen’s head.
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Detective
Explanation and Analysis—A Vast Emptiness:
In the chapter "Detective," Donald Kimball interrogates Patrick about the murder of Paul Owen. After the end of their awkward interview, Patrick says that he found the conversation itself "soothing" but the aftermath of it utterly terrifying, which he describes using a series of similes:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There was an odd general lack of urgency to the conversation that I found soothing—nothing happened at all—but when he smiles, hands me his card, leaves, the door closing sounds to me like a billion insects screaming, pounds of bacon sizzling, a vast emptiness. And after he leaves the building (I have Jean buzz Tom at Security to make sure) I call someone recommended by my lawyer, to make sure none of my phones are wiretapped [...]
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Explanation and Analysis—Astronaut-Like:
In the chapter "Detective," Donald Kimball interrogates Patrick about the murder of Paul Owen. Kimball is not a very skilled interrogator, and eventually he and Patrick strike up a relatively normal conversation. Musing about life and death, Kimball uses personification to describe the Earth "swallowing" people:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“It’s just strange,” he agrees, staring out the window, lost. “One day someone’s walking around, going to work, alive, and then …” Kimball stops, fails to complete the sentence. “Nothing,” I sigh, nodding. “People just … disappear,” he says. “The earth just opens up and swallows people,” I say, somewhat sadly, checking my Rolex. “Eerie.” Kimball yawns, stretching. “Really eerie.”
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Summer
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Spider?:
In the chapter "Summer," Patrick and Evelyn agree to take a vacation to the Hamptons. Patrick uses an obscure simile to describe Evelyn's reaction to his suggestion:
Unlock with LitCharts A+My nightly bloodlust overflowed into my days and I had to leave the city. My mask of sanity was a victim of impending slippage. This was the bone season for me and I needed a vacation. I needed to go to the Hamptons.
I suggested this to Evelyn and, like a spider, she accepted.
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Girls (2)
Explanation and Analysis—A Few Shots and $1,600:
In the second chapter titled "Girls," Patrick reunites with a sex worker whom he calls "Christie." Last time they met, Christie left with what Patrick described as "a terrible black eye and deep scratches across her buttocks caused by the coat hanger." Christie is understandably scared to be going home with him again, but Patrick convinces her with alcohol and money, which he describes in a simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+In the ride back toward Nell’s Christie had admitted that she was still upset about the last time we shared together, and that she had major reservations about tonight, but the money I’ve offered is simply too good to pass up and I promised her that nothing like last time will be repeated. Though she was still scared, a few shots of vodka in the back of the limo along with the money I’d given her so far, over sixteen hundred dollars, relaxed her like a tranquilizer.
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Confronted by Faggot
Explanation and Analysis—Smash Cut:
When Patrick unexpectedly encounters Luis Carruthers, a closeted gay man with a hopeless crush on Patrick, he describes Luis's sudden appearance using a simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Like a smash cut from a horror movie—a jump zoom—Luis Carruthers appears, suddenly, without warning, from behind his column, slinking and jumping at the same time, if that’s possible. I smile at the salesgirl, then awkwardly move away from him and over to a display case of suspenders, in dire need of a Xanax, a Valium, a Halcion, a Frozfruit, anything.
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Chase, Manhattan
Explanation and Analysis—Patrick Feels Infected:
In the chapter "Chase, Manhattan," Patrick flees in absurd fashion from the police. During this chapter, it seems increasingly likely that the events of the narrative are not really happening and are only the product of (or at least heavily embellished by) Patrick's imagination. In the middle of the chapter, the narration abruptly switches to third person, just as "Patrick" drives a stolen cop car into the Lotus Blossom, a bar. In this unexpected passage, "Patrick" fights hand-to-hand with a police officer and uses a simile to describe his out-of-body experience:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] no one helping the cop as the two men lie struggling on the sidewalk, the cop wheezing from exertion on top of Patrick, trying to wrestle the magnum from his grasp, but Patrick feels infected, like gasoline is coursing through his veins instead of blood [...]
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