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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
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Statues:
In Chapter 6, Cooper uses a simile to describe the way Alice looks at Uncas. This simile is part of a motif that runs throughout the novel:
The ingenuous Alice gazed at his free air and proud carriage, as she would have looked upon some precious relic of the Grecian chisel, to which life had been imparted by the intervention of a miracle[...]
Related Themes:
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Swiftness of a Deer:
A motif in the novel is the use of animal comparisons to describe human characteristics and behavior. In Chapter 7, as Hawkeye, Duncan, and the Mohicans fend off their attackers, Cooper uses a simile to describe Hawkeye as deer-like:
Unlock with LitCharts A+In the center of the little island, a few short and stunted pines had found root, forming a thicket, into which Hawkeye darted with the swiftness of a deer, followed by the active Duncan.
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Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Melody and Shrieks:
In Chapter 9, the band of travelers hides in a cavern. David Gamut uses imagery and a simile to describe the eerie sounds of nature:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“There is melody in the fall of the cataract, and the rushing of many waters is sweet to the senses!” said David, pressing his hand confusedly on his brow. “Is not the air yet filled with shrieks and cries, as though the departed spirits of the damned—”
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Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—Leaf of a Book:
In Chapter 19, Chingachgook identifies the scalp Uncas has taken from an enemy as that of an Oneida. Surprised with the identification, Hawkeye uses a simile and logos to tell everyone why they should trust Chingachgook:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Now, to white eyes there is no difference between this bit of skin and that of any other Indian, and yet the Sagamore declares it came from the poll of a Mingo; nay, he even names the tribe of the poor devil with as much ease as if the scalp was the leaf of a book, and each hair a letter. What right have Christian whites to boast of their learning, when a savage can read a language that would prove too much for the wisest of them all!
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Chapter 32
Explanation and Analysis—Dying Trees:
In Chapter 32, Uncas, Duncan, and Hawkeye are trying to sneak up on the Hurons when Hawkeye notices the dead trees along the riverbank. Cooper uses a simile to foreshadow the tragic end of the novel:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Everywhere along its banks were the moldering relics of dead trees, in all the stages of decay, from those that groaned on their tottering trunks to such as had recently been robbed of those rugged coats that so mysteriously contain their principle of life. A few long, low, and moss-covered piles were scattered among them, like the memorials of a former and long-departed generation.
Related Themes:
Chapter 33
Explanation and Analysis—Rare Charms:
In Chapter 33, the Lenape sing a sort of funeral dirge for Uncas and Chingachgook. Their song also refers to Alice; the way Cooper describes the song, they use a string of hyperbolic similes to describe Alice's beauty:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Still they denied her no meed her rare charms might properly claim. Her ringlets were compared to the exuberant tendrils of the vine, her eye to the blue vault of the heavens, and the most spotless cloud, with its glowing flush of the sun, was admitted to be less attractive than her bloom.
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