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Similes
Key Examples in If Beale Street Could Talk
Troubled About My Soul
Explanation and Analysis:
Tish is the first-person narrator of If Beale Street Could Talk, so Tish's voice defines the style of the novel. She is vivacious, funny, often long-winded, and the prose of her narration seemingly replicates her thoughts. In this passage, Tish follows a thought though to its conclusion, and the reader experiences it with her:
The baby cannot get here without me. And, while I may have known this, in one way, a little while ago, now the baby knows it, and tells me that while it will certainly be worse, once it leaves the water, what gets worse can also get better. It will be in the water for a while yet: but it is preparing itself for a transformation. And so must I.
