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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
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Spaniards:
In Chapter 1, Steinbeck sets up the basis for his "creation myth," centering the story in Salinas, California. In this creation myth, he uses metaphor and simile to describe the various different people groups who occupied the region:
Then the hard, dry Spaniards came exploring through, greedy and realistic, and their greed was for gold and God. They collected souls as they collected jewels. They gathered mountains and valleys, rivers and whole horizons, the way a man might now gain title to building lots.
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Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Leopard:
Throughout East of Eden, Steinbeck contemplates the process of dehumanization: how does a person come to view another person as lesser than themselves, or subhuman? Or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, how are certain individuals elevated and esteemed to the point of being considered "above" humanity? This hierarchization of life occurs throughout East of Eden. Take, for instance, the following excerpt from Chapter 3, in which Adam elevates Charles above him through the use of simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Adam saw his half-brother Charles as a bright being of another species, gifted with muscle and bone, speed and alertness, quite on a different plane, to be admired as one admires the sleek lazy danger of a black leopard.
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Peacock:
Difference does not always come at the cost of alienation, and in East of Eden, Samuel Hamilton is proof of that. In the following passage from Chapter 5, Steinbeck uses simile to describe Samuel's gradual but eventual acceptance into the Salinas Valley community:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Samuel belonged to the valley, and it was proud of him in the way a man who owns a peacock is proud.
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Explanation and Analysis—Tom Hamilton:
In Chapter 5, Steinbeck describes each of the Hamilton children, characterizing each of them and highlighting what makes them unique from one another. Tom Hamilton's introduction is one of the most interesting: he is an unconventional child and abhors the rules and restrictions placed on him by society. Steinbeck uses imagery and simile in the following passage to achieve Tom's characterization:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[Tom] was born in fury and he lived in lightning . . . . He lived in a world shining and fresh and as uninspected as Eden on the sixth day. His mind plunged like a colt in a happy pasture, and when later the world put up fences he plunged against the wire, and when the final stockade surrounded him, he plunged right through it and out.
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Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Men and Loneliness:
The particular brand of loneliness that Charles experiences is deeply intertwined with the way he views and treats women. Steinbeck demonstrates this in Chapter 6, using metaphor to describe the women Charles kept company with while Adam was away:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Charles began to keep one slovenly woman after another. When they got on his nerves he threw them out the way he would sell a pig. He didn't like them and had no interest in whether or not they liked him.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Cathy and Gender:
In the following excerpt from Chapter 8, the narrator dwells on Cathy's appearance, giving one of the first visual descriptions readers receive of her as a younger child. Through both imagery and simile, Steinbeck paints a picture of Cathy's visage intended to unsettle readers:
Unlock with LitCharts A+As though nature concealed a trap, Cathy had from the first a face of innocence. . . . Her body was a boy's body, narrow-hipped, straight-legged, but her ankles were thin and straight without being slender. Her feet were small and round and stubby, with fat insteps almost like hooves.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Burning People:
In the following passage from Chapter 10, Adam describes the bodies of indigenous people with smallpox that he was forced to burn in the army. He uses simile for this purpose:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Adam's eyes were pained. "We piled them up like they were logs, over two hundred, arms and legs sticking out. And we piled brush on top and poured coal oil on."
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