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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
Part I
Explanation and Analysis—Braid Like a Basket:
In the first paragraph of the story, when describing Sophy’s appearance at an outdoor concert, the narrator uses imagery and a simile, as seen in the following passage:
Under the black beaver hat, surmounted by its tuft of black feathers, the long locks, braided and twisted and coiled like the rushes of a basket, composed a rare, if somewhat barbaric, example of ingenious art.
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Part II
Explanation and Analysis—Lamps Like Sentinels:
When describing the sights Sophy takes in outside her window when unable to sleep, the narrator uses a simile, as seen in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Taking no exercise, she often could not sleep, and would rise in the night or early morning and look out upon the then vacant thoroughfare, where the lamps stood like sentinels waiting for some procession to go by. An approximation to such a procession was indeed made every early morning about one o’clock, when the country vehicles passed up with loads of vegetables for Covent Garden market.
Related Themes:
Part III
Explanation and Analysis—Feathers in the Scale:
At a cricket match with her son Randolph, Sophy considers telling him about her desire to marry Sam, a working-class man from the rural village where she grew up whom Randolph will likely not approve of. The narrator uses a simile when capturing Sophy’s thought process, as seen in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The bright idea occurred to her that she could casually broach the subject while moving round among the spectators, when the boy’s spirits were high with interest in the game, and he would weigh domestic matters as feathers in the scale beside the day’s victory.
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Explanation and Analysis—Black as a Cloud:
The final lines of the story—which describe Sophy’s funeral procession—contain a simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+From the railway-station a funeral procession was seen approaching: it passed his door and went out of the town towards the village of Gaymead. The man, whose eyes were wet, held his hat in his hand as the vehicles moved by; while from the mourning coach a young smooth-shaven priest in a high waistcoat looked black as a cloud at the shop-keeper standing there.
Related Themes:
