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Simile
Explanation and Analysis—Painting with Fire:
In Chapter 30, Kimmerer describes the lessons her father taught her about fire. She recalls how he used a simile and imagery to instill in her the idea of fire as her people's art and science all in one:
The fire stick was like a paintbrush on the landscape. Touch it here in a small dab and you’ve made a green meadow for elk; a light scatter there burns off the brush so the oaks make more acorns. Stipple it under the canopy and it thins the stand to prevent catastrophic fire. Draw the firebrush along the creek and the next spring it’s a thick stand of yellow willows. A wash over a grassy meadow turns it blue with camas. To make blueberries, let the paint dry for a few years and repeat.
This comparison between a fire stick and a paintbrush turns the entire landscape into a canvas. The images are beautiful in themselves, but they also convey the notion that creating a thriving ecosystem such as this involves a great deal of care and technique. The artist must know just how to apply a "small dab" or "light scatter" of fire, how to stipple it or create a wash across a wide open section, and how to come back to the painting year after year to create a whole new picture. The extended simile leaves no doubt that working with fire is a creative art that takes a massive amount of knowledge and skill to do well.
People often think of art and science as opposite practices, thinking of art as anchored in the spiritual world and science as anchored in the physical world. This simile helps Kimmerer demonstrate the error in this binary division. Her father describes fire as a way to create beauty, but it also has everything to do with science and the physical world. Today, we struggle to manage wildfires, to bring back endangered species, and to help our ecosystems sustain themselves. Scientists are constantly searching for data-backed solutions to all of these problems. The way Kimmerer's father describes it, one highly effective solution is the art of fire-making. By approaching the natural world with a creative eye, Indigenous people have long been implementing the very solutions scientists have been looking for.
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