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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
Key Examples in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Halcyon Days:
John Isidore gets ready for work in Chapter 2 while, in the background, the TV advertises one of the services available to those lucky humans who emigrate to Mars. The advertisement hinges on a simile that allows Dick to introduce an allegorical critique:
The TV set shouted, “—duplicates the halcyon days of the pre–Civil War Southern states! Either as body servants or tireless field hands, the custom-tailored humanoid robot—designed specifically for YOUR UNIQUE NEEDS, FOR YOU AND YOU ALONE—given to you on your arrival absolutely free, equipped fully, as specified by you before your departure from Earth; this loyal, trouble-free companion in the greatest, boldest adventure contrived by man in modern history will provide—” It continued on and on.
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—The Scream:
In Chapter 12, Rick and Phil find Luba Luft at an Edvard Munch art exhibit. The scene begins with a poignant allusion, which later becomes the basis for a provocative simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The painting showed a hairless, oppressed creature with a head like an inverted pear, its hands clapped in horror to its ears, its mouth open in a vast, soundless scream. Twisted ripples of the creature’s torment, echoes of its cry, flooded out into the air surrounding it; the man or woman, whichever it was, had become contained by its own howl. It had covered its ears against its own sound. The creature stood on a bridge and no one else was present; the creature screamed in isolation. Cut off by—or despite—its outcry.
Related Themes:
Chapter 18
Explanation and Analysis—Broken Cup:
In Chapter 18, after John Isidore learns from Buster Friendly's exposé that Mercerism is a sham, his physical environment starts to crumble around him. Dick uses a simile to turn a broken ceramic cup into a metaphor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[John] saw, on the table, the ceramic cup crack; webs of fine lines grew like the shadows of a vine, and then a chip dropped from the edge of the cup, exposing the rough, unglazed interior.
Related Themes:
