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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 6
Explanation and Analysis—Sickly Cows:
In Chapter 6, Zachry recalls the death of his child, a young “babbit” who never even drew a first breath. He contemplates the possible reason for this, wondering whether or not his "seed" has "rotted"—that is, whether or not he is somehow infertile. Zachry describes the morning he took his dead baby to the “Bony Shore” for burial, using imagery and simile to set the scene:
I took the died babbit wrapped in a woolsack to the Bony Shore. So lornsome I was, wond’rin’ if Jayjo’s seed was rotted or my seed was rotted or jus’ my luck was rotted. Slack mornin’ it was under the bloodflower bushes, waves lurched up the beach like sickly cows an’ fell over.
Natural imagery in this passage parallels the mood of its narrator, with waves lurching onto the beach like “sickly cows” amongst the “bloodflower bushes.” This imagery, centered on death, blood, and sickness, is a small window into Zachry’s mind at the time of his child’s death. He cannot escape tragedy and sickness, seeing them even in the completely innocuous elements of his environment.
Given that his chapter is set in the future, post-worldwide nuclear war, Zachry's description of his dead son may hint at some genetic mutation. The sickly cows may also be an indicator of widespread radiation contamination, which would make carrying a human baby to term very difficult.
Related Themes:
