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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—Blood and the Dog:
London uses a rather austere style in "To Build a Fire," which is typical of Naturalist writing, and this makes his rare usage of figurative language particularly poignant. This simile, for example, helps highlight the story's overarching argument about instinctual and scientific knowledge:
The blood was alive, like the dog, and like the dog it wanted to hide away and cover itself up from the fearful cold.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—A Death Sentence:
In this simile, which occurs at the climax of the story, London compares nature to civilization and addresses a major flaw in his protagonist's thinking:
Unlock with LitCharts A+High up in the tree one bough capsized its load of snow. This fell on the boughs beneath, capsizing them. This process continued, spreading out and involving the whole tree. It grew like an avalanche, and it descended without warning upon the man and the fire, and the fire was blotted out! Where it had burned was a mantle of fresh and disordered snow.
The man was shocked. It was as though he had just heard his own sentence of death.
Related Themes:
