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Setting
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—Kisses Like a Child’s:
When describing how the Bible Salesman kisses Hulga, the narrator uses a series of similes, as seen in the following passage:
His breath was clear and sweet like a child’s and the kisses were sticky like a child’s. He mumbled about loving her and about knowing when he first seen her that he loved her, but the mumbling was like the sleepy fretting of a child being put to sleep by his mother.
All of the similes in this passage compare the Bible Salesman to a child—his breath is “clear and sweet like a child’s,” his kisses are “sticky like a child’s,” his mumbling about how he loves Hulga is “like the sleepy fretting of a child being put to sleep by his mother.” This repetitive trio of similes communicate that, even in this intimate moment with the Bible Salesman, Hulga still views him with condescension and a sense of superiority. She has never kissed anyone before, yet still feels that she is the adult in this situation and he is the child.
Of course, all of Hulga’s views are undermined shortly after this passage, as the Bible Salesman reveals that he was manipulating her this whole time and does not actually have earnest romantic feelings for her. This is one of many examples of O’Connor communicating to readers that appearances are not always as they seem, and that judging people from lower socioeconomic classes as “simple” or inferior (or even as children) is both offensive and unwise.
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Explanation and Analysis—Hulga’s Artificial Leg:
When describing Hulga’s relationship with her artificial leg, the narrator uses a pair of similes, as seen in the following passage:
But she was as sensitive about the artificial leg as a peacock about his tail. No one ever touched it but her. She took care of it as someone else would his soul, in private and almost with her own eyes away.
In the first simile here, the narrator compares Hulga’s sensitive relationship to her artificial leg to a peacock’s sensitive relationship to its tail. This comparison is notable because a peacock’s tail draws both positive attention (such as potential suitors) and negative attention (such as potential predators). In this story, the Bible Salesman is fixated on Hulga’s leg in a way that she initially believes is positive: he tells her, lovingly, that it sets her apart from other people. But his attention turns out to be negative, as he ultimately tricks Hulga. He removes her leg and runs away with it, leaving her helpless in the barn.
The other simile in the passage is a bit more amorphous, comparing the way that Hulga takes care of her leg to the way that “someone else would his soul,” in the sense that she tends to it in private and “almost with her own eyes away.” This description communicates the shame that Hulga carries in relation to her disability, as she has a hard time looking directly at her artificial leg. In this way, Hulga proves to be somewhat hypocritical—while she considers herself to be a self-possessed and self-aware person, there are still parts of herself that she refuses to face.
Related Themes:
