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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
Similes
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Doodlebug:
When describing how Doodle earned his nickname, Brother uses a pair of similes, as seen in the following passage:
When he crawled, he crawled backward, as if he were in reverse and couldn’t change gears. If you called him, he’d turn around as if he were going the other direction, then he’d back right up to you to be picked up. Crawling backward made him look like a doodlebug so I began to call him doodle, and in time even Mamma and Daddy thought it was a better name that William Armstrong.
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Explanation and Analysis—Like Stinging Nettles:
After a “failed” rowing session (in which Doodle had trouble rowing their boat through the start of a storm), Brother becomes irritated and runs away from his exhausted brother, leaving him collapsed on the shore. In capturing his experience while running from his brother through the rain, Brother uses a simile, as seen in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The knowledge that Doodle’s and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awakened. I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us. The drops stung my face like nettles, and the wind flared the wet, glistening leaves of the bordering trees. Soon I could hear his voice no more.
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Explanation and Analysis—Laughter Like a Bell:
When describing the moment in which Doodle stands up on his legs for the first time, Brother uses a simile, as seen in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Finally, one day, after many weeks of practicing, he stood alone for a few seconds. When he fell, I grabbed him in my arms and hugged him, our laughter pealing through the swamp like a ringing bell. Now we knew it could be done.
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Explanation and Analysis—The Storm:
When capturing the intensity of the storm that hits the North Carolina countryside at the end of the story, Hurst uses a simile and imagery, as seen in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The rain was coming, roaring through the pines, and then, like a bursting Roman candle, a gum tree ahead of us was shattered by a bolt of lightning. When the deafening peal of thunder had died, and in the moment before the rain arrived, I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind, cry out, “Brother, Brother, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!”
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