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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
Key Examples in The Nightingale
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Stairs:
In Chapter 1 of The Nightingale, readers enter the home of an elderly woman living in Oregon, who appears to have interest in examining moments from her past. To illustrate the depth of the narrator's connection to her home—which she will soon leave—Hannah utilizes a descriptive simile:
There is not much I want to take with me. But there is one thing. I reach for the hanging handle that controls the attic steps. The stairs unfold from the ceiling like a gentleman extending his hand.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Laughter:
In Chapter 2, readers enter the fictional town of Carriveau in the late 1930s, where Vianne lives and raises her children on her lush, rural property. Hannah's initial descriptions of this primary setting are poetic and alluring, inviting the reader to imagine the space through the use of simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+On this beautiful summer morning in the Loire Valley, everything was in bloom. White sheets flapped in the breeze and roses tumbled like laughter along the ancient stone wall that hid her property from the road.
Related Themes:
Chapter 27
Explanation and Analysis—Washed Ashore:
When Vianne emerges from the Carriveau town hall after being forcibly questioned by Nazi soldiers over her involvement with Beck's disappearance, Hannah utilizes a simile to illustrate Vianne's traumatic feelings of disorientation:
Unlock with LitCharts A+When Vianne stepped out of the town hall, she felt like a woman who’d just washed ashore. She was unsteady on her feet and trembling slightly, her palms were damp, her forehead itchy. Everywhere she looked in the square were soldiers; these days the black SS uniforms were predominant.
Related Themes:
Chapter 28
Explanation and Analysis—Ephemera:
As war trudges on in the late chapters of The Nightingale, Isabelle and Gaëtan find themselves at an impasse. They do not want to separate, but their respective resistance efforts make them highly vulnerable to German attacks and interrogation. Having matured from her active participation in the war, Isabelle wishes to keep Gaëtan close but recognizes the fleeting nature of time. In Chapter 28, Hannah illustrates Isabelle's personal growth—as well as the destructive capabilities of war itself—through a simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The new Isabelle wanted to walk away without even trying. She didn't know if she had the strength to be rejected again. And yet. They were at war. Time was the one luxury no one had anymore. Tomorrow felt as ephemeral as a kiss in the dark.
Related Themes:
Chapter 32
Explanation and Analysis—Lovers:
As the likelihood of Gaëtan and Isabelle continuing their relationship grows slim towards the end of The Nightingale, Hannah divulges that the two of them often say to each other that they are “like lovers"—not in reality, but in their dreams:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Like lovers,” she said, trying to smile. It was what they always said to each other, this dream shared of a life that seemed impossible to remember and unlikely to reoccur. He touched her face with a gentleness that brought tears to her eyes. “Like lovers.”
Related Themes:
