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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
1. Of the Origin and Design of Government in General
Explanation and Analysis—Kings and Prostitutes:
At the end of the first section, Paine uses a morally-charged simile to cast aspersions on the critical thinking skills of his contemporaries. He begins with a reference to prostitution:
As a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one.
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2. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession
Explanation and Analysis—Monarchy and Biology:
Paine undertakes a critique of hereditary succession over the course of the second section of Common Sense. He begins this section by discussing the "distinction of men into Kings and Subjects" as an abnormal occurrence, contradicting the laws of nature. Paine then utilizes a particularly apt simile to emphasize the abnormality of this distinction:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.
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3. Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs
Explanation and Analysis—Tree Growth:
Toward the beginning of the third section of Common Sense, Paine utilizes simile, comparing a fracture in the unity of continental America to an engraving on a young tree:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Now is the seed time of continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters.
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