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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 1. The Madness Years
Explanation and Analysis—Flames:
Throughout The Three-Body Problem, the narrator frequently describes student revolutionaries as "flames" or "fire," using both similes and metaphors to establish this motif. Note the following simile from Chapter 1, which is used to describe the militants who eventually kill Ye Zhetai:
Dressed in military uniforms and equipped with bandoliers, they exuded youthful vigor and surrounded Ye Zhetai like four green flames.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2. Silent Spring
Explanation and Analysis—Flames:
Throughout The Three-Body Problem, the narrator frequently describes student revolutionaries as "flames" or "fire," using both similes and metaphors to establish this motif. Note the following simile from Chapter 1, which is used to describe the militants who eventually kill Ye Zhetai:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Dressed in military uniforms and equipped with bandoliers, they exuded youthful vigor and surrounded Ye Zhetai like four green flames.
Related Themes:
Chapter 3. Red Coast I
Explanation and Analysis—Enormous Hand:
In Chapter 3, Ye observes the antenna at Radar Peak in action for the first time, noting its destructive power. The narrator uses a simile in this passage to characterize Ye's perception of this almighty force:
Unlock with LitCharts A+All was silent except for the howl of the wind against the antenna. Ye watched as the remaining birds in the flock gradually settled back into the forest. She stared at the antenna and thought it looked like an enormous hand stretched open toward the sky, possessing an ethereal strength.
Related Themes:
Chapter 17. Three Body: Newton, Von Neumann, the First Emperor, and Tri-Solar Syzygy
Explanation and Analysis—Human Computer:
In Chapter 17, Wang works to create a human computer within the Three Body game. In the following passage from this chapter, the narrator uses a simile to describe this odd structure:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Below them, a magnificent phalanx of thirty million Qin shoulders was arrayed on the ground. The entire formation fit inside a square six kilometers on each side. As the sun rose, the phalanx remained still like a giant carpet made of 30 million terra-cotta warriors. But when a flock of birds wandered above the phalanx, the birds immediately felt the potential for death from below and scattered anxiously in chaos.
Related Themes:
