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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 4
Explanation and Analysis—Breaks Lak Day:
There is a very pretty if brief simile in one of the first conversations between Joe Starks and Janie. Jody is flirting with Janie and trying to convince her to come with him and leave Logan Killicks.
You come go wid me. Den all de rest of yo' natural life you kin live lak you oughta. Kiss me and shake yo' head. When you do dat, yo' plentiful hair breaks lak day.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Baggy:
Hurston makes a very evocative image of the fat, decrepit figure of an elderly Joe Starks, one of the multiple descriptions of the horrible states to which each of Janie's husbands come. This description focuses on his looseness, as he all but melts away:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Then too she noticed how baggy Joe was getting all over. Like bags hanging from an ironing board. A little sack hung from the corners of his eyes and rested on his cheek-bones, a loose-filled back of feathers hung from his ears and rested on his neck beneath his chin. A sack of flabby something hung from his loins and rested on his thighs when he sat down. But even these things were running down like candle grease as time moves on.
Related Themes:
Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—Underneath uh Dove's Wing:
Tea Cake tries to make an argument, asking Janie to allow him to comb her hair, by using pathos, followed by a simile that is at once argumentatively effective and aesthetically beautiful. He says he likes to comb Janie's hair, which she can't understand:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"Why, Tea Cake? Whut good do combin' my hair do you? It's mah comfortable, not yourn."
"It's mine too. Ah ain't sleepin' so good for more'n uh week cause Ah been wishin' so bad tuh get mah hands in yo' hair. It's so pretty. It feels jus' lak underneath uh dove's wing next to mah face."
Related Themes:
