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Setting
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
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—A Holiday in Heaven:
Near the beginning of the novel Frank introduces his baby sister Margaret to the reader with great tenderness, using idiom and simile to explain why she affects everyone so strongly:
There’s a new baby soon, a little girl, and they call her Margaret. We all love Margaret. She has black curly hair and blue eyes like Mam and she waves her little hands and chirps like any little bird in the trees along Classon Avenue. Minnie says there was a holiday in heaven the day this child was made.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Jewels in My Mouth:
When Frank is stuck in the hospital with typhoid, he has a lot of time to read. Here, the author uses allusion and simile to convey Frank’s newfound fascination with Shakespeare, despite his limited understanding of the historical context of the plays the book refers to:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I do believe, induced by potent circumstances
That thou art mine enemy.
The history writer says this is what Catherine, who is a wife of Henry the Eighth, says to Cardinal Wolsey, who is trying to have her head cut off. I don’t know what it means and I don’t care because it’s Shakespeare and it’s like having jewels in my mouth when I say the words.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Seashell Ears:
Frank describes his apprehension upon seeing that his regular priest—an ancient man whom he feels comfortable confessing almost anything to because he’s basically deaf—has been replaced by a younger man. He uses a simile to describe how this new confessor’s fully functional ears make him feel:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Then one day the little panel in the confession box slides back and it’s not my man at all, it’s a young priest with a big ear like a seashell. He’ll surely hear everything.
Related Themes:
