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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 Flatland
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Imagine Flatland:
In the novel’s first chapter, A Square introduces the reader to the difficult concept of his two-dimensional world using a simile and visual imagery:
Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows—only hard and with luminous edges—and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen.
Related Themes:
Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Second Prometheus:
A Square explains how willing he is to sacrifice his own safety and happiness to disseminate knowledge of the third dimension to the public. He uses an allusion and a simile to illustrate this for the reader:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] yet, like a second Prometheus, I will endure this and worse, if by any means I may arouse in the interiors of Plane and Solid Humanity a spirit of rebellion against the Conceit which would limit our Dimensions to Two or Three or any number short of Infinity.
Related Themes:
Chapter 21
Explanation and Analysis—Tantalising Dream:
Toward the end of the novel, A Square describes his intense sense of urgency in recording his knowledge about Spaceland before he forgets or it starts to seem like a fantasy. As he does this, he uses a simile to convey the slippery character of his memories:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I immediately sent for my Grandson; for, to confess the truth, I felt that all that I had seen and heard was in some strange way slipping away from me, like the image of a half-grasped, tantalizing dream [...]
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Chapter 22
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Sphinx:
A Square uses the Egyptian myth of the Sphinx to articulate his frustration at the difficulty of making the other Shapes believe his stories about Spaceland, employing both allusion and simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Heavily weighs on me at times the burdensome reflection that I cannot honestly say I am confident as to the exact shape of the once-seen, oft-regretted Cube; and in my nightly visions the mysterious precept, “Upward, not Northward,” haunts me like a soul-devouring Sphinx.
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