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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
Section 2
Explanation and Analysis—Fading Rockets:
Wanting a break from her husband's nonsensical ravings, Lucrezia Smith steps away from him in the park and tries to admire the fountain. But she can't, because she compares it to a fountain in her home city of Milan, and it pales in comparison. She says, "'For you should see the Milan gardens,'" but there's nobody around to hear her. The narrative then uses a simile that accentuates her feeling of loneliness:
There was nobody. Her words faded. So a rocket fades. Its sparks, having grazed their way into the night, surrender to it, dark descends, pours over the outlines of houses and towers; [...].
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Section 7
Explanation and Analysis—Richard's Thoughts:
When Richard Dalloway leaves Lady Bruton's house after having lunch with her and Hugh Whitbread, Lady Bruton begins to fall asleep and metaphorically thinks about how both Richard and Hugh are connected to her by a "thin thread" as they move through London. As this metaphor develops, the "thin thread" (which is also compared to a spider's thread) eventually breaks when Lady Bruton falls fully asleep. At this point, the narrative focus shifts to Richard's perspective, picking up the thread (pun intended) by using a simile comparing Richard's attention to a loose, disconnected spider thread wavering in the air until it attaches to something new:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And as a single spider’s thread after wavering here and there attaches itself to the point of a leaf, so Richard’s mind, recovering from its lethargy, set now on his wife, Clarissa, [...].
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Explanation and Analysis—Dumb Creature:
As Miss Kilman complains about people like Clarissa Dalloway to Elizabeth, the narrative uses a simile to describe Elizabeth's reaction. The simile sheds light on what it's like for Elizabeth to sit there and listen to her tutor say such bitter things about people like her own mother (even if Miss Kilman never actually mentions Clarissa's name):
Unlock with LitCharts A+Like some dumb creature who has been brought up to a gate for an unknown purpose, and stands there longing to gallop away, Elizabeth Dalloway sat silent. Was Miss Kilman going to say anything more?
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Explanation and Analysis—The Thin Thread:
After Richard Dalloway and Hugh Whitbread leave Lady Bruton's luncheon, she lies down to take a nap, and the narrative metaphorically focuses on what happens to their relational connection as she sinks into sleep and the two men recede into the distance:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And they went further and further from her, being attached to her by a thin thread (since they had lunched with her) which would stretch and stretch, get thinner and thinner as they walked across London
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