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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—As in Riding a Tricycle:
When introducing readers to the rehabilitation machine that he is forced to use at the military hospital in Milan during World War I, the narrator uses a simile, as seen in the following passage:
My knee did not bend and the leg dropped straight from the knee to the ankle without a calf, and the machine was to bend the knee and make it move as in riding a tricycle. But it did not bend yet, and instead the machine lurched when it came to the bending part.
The simile here—in which the narrator describes the machine trying to move his wounded knee “as in riding a tricycle”—communicates how infantilized the narrator feels by this forced (and ineffective) rehabilitation process. While he could have had the narrator compare the machine to a bicycle, Hemingway chooses to reference a tricycle, suggesting that the narrator feels the hospital staff is treating him like a young child.
It is notable that, while the machine is supposed to be as easy as riding a tricycle, it “lurche[s]” every time it is supposed to help the narrator bend his knee, suggesting that it fails at its only purpose. Through this description of the malfunctioning machine, Hemingway hints at his critique of the malfunctioning medical system during World War I, and how little attentive and helpful support wounded soldiers actually received.
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Explanation and Analysis—Like Hunting Hawks:
When describing the three wounded Italian soldiers with whom he spent time, the narrator uses a simile, as seen in the following passage:
I was a friend, but I was never really one of them after they had read the citations, because it had been different with them and they had done very different things to get their medals […] The three with the medals were like hunting-hawks; and I was not a hawk, although I might seem a hawk to those who had never hunted; they, the three, knew better and so we drifted apart.
Here, the narrator uses a simile when describing the soldiers as being “like hunting-hawks,” comparing their military prowess to hawks’ ability to identify and kill their prey when trained. The narrator did not serve in the military with them, but believes in their talents due to the fact that they all received medals for their heroic feats.
It is notable that, while the narrator sees the other men as being like hunting-hawks, he does not view himself that way (even though civilians might), and the other men do not view him this way either, which leads to them “drift[ing] apart” from him. This is one of the many examples in the story of the narrator feeling isolated from the people around him, even those with a shared experience of serving in war. This is partially due to the fact that the other men are Italian, while he is American, and therefore culturally set apart from them.
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