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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 2
Explanation and Analysis—The Good Old Days:
In Chapter 2, Lauren and her younger brother, Keith, are baptized by their father, who is a Baptist minister. While Lauren admits that she no longer believes in her father's God and church, she uses a simile to acknowledge that the idea of church has a different meaning for the adults in her community:
To the adults, going outside to a real church was like stepping back into the good old days when there were churches all over the place and too many lights and gasoline was for fueling cars and trucks instead of for torching things. They never miss a chance to relive the good old days or to tell kids how great it's going to be when the country gets back on its feet and good times come back.
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Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Surrounded by Sharks:
After Amy Dunn's death, Lauren reflects on how close violence and danger have come to encroach on her walled community. In the following passage from Chapter 5, Lauren employs simile to compare her neighborhood to "an island surrounded by sharks":
Unlock with LitCharts A+It's like an island surrounded by sharks—except that sharks don't bother you unless you go in the water. But our land sharks are on their way in. It's just a matter of how long it takes for them to get hungry enough.
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Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—A Rattlesnake's Warning:
In Chapter 6, Lauren uses a simile to liken her father's voice to a rattlesnake's warning sound:
Unlock with LitCharts A+His voice had had that warning edge to it that my brothers and I had come to call the rattle—as in a rattlesnake's warning sound. If you pushed him past the rattle, you were in trouble. If he called you "son" or "daughter" you were close to trouble.
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Chapter 24
Explanation and Analysis—An Old-Style Graveyard:
In Chapter 24, Lauren and her group finally arrive at Bankole's land in northern California. They expect to find Bankole's family and property but are instead met by charred remains of the buildings that once stood, which are described using a simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There was no house. There were no buildings. There was almost nothing: A broad black smear on the hillside; a few charred planks sticking up from the rubble, some leaning against others; and a tall brick chimney, standing black and solitary like a tombstone in a picture of an old-style graveyard. A tombstone amid the bones and ashes.
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