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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 Handmaid’s Tale
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Flesh:
In Chapter 2, Offred encounters Rita in the kitchen and reminisces fondly on the feeling of kneading bread dough. Clearly starved of human connection, Offred uses simile to tie together the act of making bread and the act of initiating physical touch:
I would help Rita make the bread, sinking my hands into that soft resistant warmth which is so much like flesh. I hunger to touch something, other than cloth or wood. I hunger to commit the act of touch.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Fairy Tale:
In Chapter 2, as Offred makes her way from her room to the door of the house, Atwood uses a series of striking images and similes to describe her protagonist's appearance and self-perception:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There remains a mirror, on the hall wall. If I turn my head so that the white wings framing my face direct my vision towards it, I can see it as I go down the stairs, round, convex, a pier glass, like the eye of a fish, and myself in it like a distorted shadow, a parody of something, some fairy-tale figure in a red cloak, descending towards a moment of carelessness that is the same as danger. A Sister, dipped in blood.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Dog Bone:
In Chapter 4, Offred and Ofglen depart from the Commanders' compound to go shopping. As they pass the gate, two young Guardians see them through. Offred takes this opportunity to move her body in a teasing manner, enticing the two men. She maintains plausible deniability, but still manages to exercise the one form of power left available to her: sex. Offred describes the feeling of this power through simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It's like thumbing your nose from behind a fence or teasing a dog with a bone held out of reach, and I'm ashamed at myself for doing it, because none of this is the fault of these men, they're too young. Then I find I'm not ashamed after all. I enjoy the power; power of a dog bone, passive but there.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Ofglen:
Ofglen, as a character, appears eager to be subservient. From Offred's perspective, Ofglen is uncannily obedient, behaving as a trained animal or a robot would. Offred comments on this behavior in multiple sections of The Handmaid's Tale, using imagery and simile to paint a picture of Ofglen's obedience.
In the following example from Chapter 8, Ofglen reacts mechanically to Offred's request that they head home, presenting a perfect specimen of womanly submission:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Without a word she swivels, as if she's voice-activated, as if she's on little oiled wheels, as if she's on top of a music box. I resent this grace of hers. I resent her meek head, bowed as if into a heavy wind. But there is no wind.
Related Themes:
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Dolls:
In Chapter 6, Offred and Ofglen stop by the wall to observe several men hung for various crimes. Several of these men were abortion doctors before the rise of Gilead and are being punished by the current regime for these past "crimes." Using simile, Offred reveals the true terror and violence that accompany religious extremism:
Unlock with LitCharts A+It's the bags over the heads that are the worst, worse than the faces themselves would be. It makes the men like dolls on which the faces have not yet been painted; like scarecrows, which in a way is what they are, since they are meant to scare.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Dishtowel :
In the following simile from Chapter 8, Offred describes the nature of her memories and how they affect her, generating a rather violent image:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Sometimes these flashes of normality come at me from the side, like ambushes. The ordinary, the usual, a reminder, like a kick. I see the dishtowel, out of context, and I catch my breath.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Ofglen:
Ofglen, as a character, appears eager to be subservient. From Offred's perspective, Ofglen is uncannily obedient, behaving as a trained animal or a robot would. Offred comments on this behavior in multiple sections of The Handmaid's Tale, using imagery and simile to paint a picture of Ofglen's obedience.
In the following example from Chapter 8, Ofglen reacts mechanically to Offred's request that they head home, presenting a perfect specimen of womanly submission:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Without a word she swivels, as if she's voice-activated, as if she's on little oiled wheels, as if she's on top of a music box. I resent this grace of hers. I resent her meek head, bowed as if into a heavy wind. But there is no wind.
Related Themes:
Chapter 12.
Explanation and Analysis—Clean:
The following simile from Chapter 12 describes Offred's state of mind while she takes a bath:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I wish to be totally clean, germless, without bacteria, like the surface of the moon.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—A Newborn Mouse:
The following passage from Chapter 13 provides an interesting look into the operating mechanisms of propaganda, outlining forms of rhetoric that might be used to objectify women, isolate them, and pit them against one another. Offred uses simile in this scene to describe her reaction to Janine's humiliation:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Last week, Janine burst into tears. Aunt Helena made her kneel at the front of the classroom, hands behind her back, where we could all see her, her face red and dripping nose. Her hair dull blond, her eyelashes so light they seemed not there, the lost eyelashes of someone who's been in a fire. Burned eyes. She looked disgusting: weak, squirmy, blotchy, pink, like a newborn mouse. None of us wanted to look like that, ever. For a moment, though we knew what was being done to her, we despised her.
Related Themes:
