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Simile
Explanation and Analysis—The Murderous Needle:
After Carla reads Sylvia's letter and learns of Flora's reappearance, Carla's feelings are described using a simile:
as if she had a murderous needle somewhere in her lungs, and by breathing carefully, she could avoid feeling it. But every once in a while she had to take a deep breath, and it was still there
Munro employs a simile to characterize Carla's intense emotion. Due to its small size, it is hard to imagine a needle alone as capable of causing serious bodily harm. This tension makes "murderous needle" an unusual and ambiguous description that can refer to multiple components of the story. On the one hand, the phrase implies that Carla feels so enraged by the news of Flora's reappearance that she feels a "murderous" urge. By "breathing carefully," Carla can alleviate the impulse to respond violently to this news. Perhaps more obviously, though, the poking of the needle simply represents Carla's unshakable pain about Flora's death and her temptation to search for Flora's remains. No matter how hard she tries, Carla cannot seem to stop wondering about Flora's death. "Murderous" also alludes to Clark's likely murder of Flora. In this reading, the needle represents Carla's suspicion, her lingering feeling that Clark somehow harmed the goat.
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