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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
Similes
Explanation and Analysis—The Watch:
At the beginning of the story, Farquhar’s incessantly ticking watch foreshadows his impending death. After the narrator describes the soldiers surrounding Farquhar on the bridge, Farquhar attempts to focus his final thoughts on his family, only to be distracted by a frightening ticking sound that the narrator reveals to be his watch:
He awaited each stroke with impatience and — he knew not why — apprehension. The intervals of silence grew progressively longer; the delays became maddening. With their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.
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Similes
Explanation and Analysis—Shocking Reality:
A final simile comes in the penultimate line of the story, bringing Bierce’s commentary on the Civil War to the forefront:
Unlock with LitCharts A+As he is about to clasp [his wife], he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon — then all is darkness and silence!
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Explanation and Analysis—The Glory of Nature:
During Farquhar’s hallucinated escape, Bierce uses a simile to demonstrate Farquhar's exaggerated sense of perception when it comes to the surrounding world. This simile hints that his perception of an exciting escape is, in fact, in his imagination. For example, Bierce writes:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He dug his fingers into the sand, threw it over himself in handfuls and audibly blessed it. It looked like diamonds, rubies, emeralds; he could think of nothing beautiful which it did not resemble.
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