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Setting
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
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Log:
Before Elizabeth knows that Walter has died in the mines—believing, instead, that he has not come home because he’s out drinking—she complains to her daughter about his inevitable drunken return, using a simile in the process:
“They’ll bring him when he does come—like a log.” She meant there would be no scene. “And he may sleep on the floor till he wakes himself. I know he’ll not go to work tomorrow after this!”
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Explanation and Analysis—Like Red Sores:
When setting the scene at the beginning of the story, the narrator describes the nearby Brinsley Colliery (or coal mine), using a simile in the process:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The pit-bank loomed up beyond the pond, flames like red sores licking its ashy sides, in the afternoon’s stagnant light. Just beyond rose the tapering chimneys and the clumsy black headstocks of Brinsley Colliery.
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Part 2
Explanation and Analysis—Walter’s Mother’s Ravings:
After Elizabeth and her mother-in-law finish cleaning Walter’s dead body, Walter’s mother begins raving about her son, using a series of similes in the process:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“White as milk he is, clear as a twelvemonth baby, bless him, the darling!” the old mother murmured to herself. “Not a mark on him, clear and clean and white, as beautiful as ever a child was made,” she murmured with pride. Elizabeth kept her face hidden. “He went peaceful, Lizzie—peaceful as sleep.”
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