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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 Obasan
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—A Great Oven Door:
In Chapter 7, Naomi uses a simile as she recalls the searing weather of Southern Alberta during her mother’s last visit:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The May morning of her last visit, the sky by 10:00 a.m. was already yawning open like a great oven door. It was a premature furnace day. In Southern Alberta, spring weather is unpredictable—a blizzard one moment and midsummer the next. The only thing that is constant is the wind.
Chapter 22
Explanation and Analysis—The Chicken:
In Chapter 22, Naomi observes the aftermath of a chicken’s slaughter with a heightened, almost frozen attention, using a simile as she does so:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The boys ignore me. I wait, attending the chicken’s quivering, the plump body pulsing and beating like a disembodied heart. As long as the moving continues I wait.
Chapter 23
Explanation and Analysis—Flattened Hill:
In Chapter 23, Naomi observes Nomura‑obasan’s now‑empty bed and notices the subtle transformation left by her absence:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The quilt of blue and white squares on her cot is strangely straight and orderly, as if a hill had suddenly been flattened into a farmer’s field.
Related Themes:
