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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 The Beautiful and Damned
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Child:
In Chapter 5, the narrator compares Gloria to a "startled child" via simile:
She stretched out her arms with a gesture of freedom. This was what she had wanted, to stand alone where it was high and cool.
“Gloria!”
Like a startled child she scurried along the plank, hopping, skipping, jumping, with an ecstatic sense of her own physical lightness. Let him come now—she no longer feared that, only she must first reach the station, because that was part of the game. She was happy.
Related Themes:
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Desire:
In Chapter 7, Anthony reflects on his personal and financial failures. He compares desire to a sunbeam via simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Because desire just cheats you. It’s like a sunbeam skipping here and there about a room. It stops and gilds some inconsequential object, and we poor fools try to grasp it—but when we do the sunbeam moves on to something else, and you’ve got the inconsequential part, but the glitter that made you want it is gone—
Related Themes:
