Previous
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
Section 1
Explanation and Analysis—Angel of Death:
In the following excerpt from Section 1, Silko illustrates Tayo's post-VA hospital experience through the use of vivid figurative language. Both allusion and simile combine in this harrowing scene:
He lay on the concrete listening to the voices that surrounded him, voices that were either soft or distant. They spoke to him in English, and when he did not answer, there was a discussion and he heard the Japanese words vividly. He wasn’t sure where he was any more, maybe back in the jungles again; he felt a sick sweat shiver over him like the shadow of the angel Auntie talked about.
Related Themes:
Section 2
Explanation and Analysis—Inside a Coffin:
In Section 2, Auntie forces Tayo to lie in Rocky's old bed momentarily. This makes Tayo uncomfortable, given that Rocky is dead; Auntie's unassuming actions only serve to remind Tayo of his survivor's guilt. Observe the following passage from Section 2, in which Tayo utilizes simile to describe his guilt and discomfort:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He felt the old mattress then, where all the years of Rocky’s life had made contours and niches that Tayo’s bones did not fit: like plump satin-covered upholstery inside a coffin, molding itself around a corpse to hold it forever.
Related Themes:
Section 3
Explanation and Analysis—Monstrous Twins:
In the following excerpt from Section 3, Silko uses a simile to characterize Little Sister's struggle with internalized racism:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She hated the people at home when white people talked about their peculiarities; but she always hated herself more because she still thought about them, because she knew their pain at what she was doing with her life. The feelings of shame, at her own people and at the white people, grew inside her, side by side like monstrous twins that would have to be left in the hills to die.
Related Themes:
Section 7
Explanation and Analysis—Living Uranium:
Near the end of Section 7, Tayo stumbles upon a uranium mine abandoned by the U.S. government. He finally makes the connection between his own suffering and that of humans around the world, recognizing that Laguna Pueblo people and Japanese civilians share a common oppressor. Relieved at the ceremony's completion and empowered by this realization of interconnectedness, Tayo goes on to observe the uranium ore within the mine, using a simile to entwine even this dangerous rock in the world's broader relational web:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He knelt and found an ore rock. The gray stone was streaked with powdery yellow uranium, bright and alive as pollen; veins of sooty black formed lines with the yellow, making mountain ranges and rivers across the stone. But they had taken these beautiful rocks from deep within earth and they had laid them in a monstrous design, realizing destruction on a scale only they could have dreamed.
Related Themes:
