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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—Siblings or Parents:
Near the beginning of the story, while driving the Dases to the Sun Temple, Mr. Kapasi reflects on their family dynamics, using similes and imagery in the process:
They were all like siblings, Mr. Kapasi thought as they passed a row of date trees. Mr. and Mrs. Das behaved like an older brother and sister, not parents. It seemed that they were in charge of the children only for the day; it was hard to believe they were regularly responsible for anything other than themselves. Mr. Das tapped on his lens cap, and his tour book, dragging his thumbnail occasionally across the pages so that they made a scraping sound. Mrs. Das continued to polish her nails.
The similes here—in which Mr. Kapasi (via the narrator) describes Mr. and Mrs. Das as being “like siblings” and “like an older brother and sister” to their three children—communicate the couple’s youthful 20-something energy, as well as their lack of parenting skills. Despite the close quarters—all six of them are squished into one car—Mr. Das is only paying attention to his guidebook and Mrs. Das is painting her nails, ignoring their children in the process.
The imagery here includes the detail about the car passing “a row of date trees” (helping readers to picture the scene) and the description of Mr. Das “dragging his thumbnail occasionally across the pages [of his guidebook] so that they made a scraping sound” (helping readers to hear the scene). The juxtaposition of the pleasant scenery outside the car and unpleasant sounds inside the car captures the uncomfortable energy between the Das family members in this moment.
In this scene, as throughout the story, Mr. and Mrs. Das prove to be more interested in themselves than in their children. They almost never communicate with each other or their kids, choosing instead to exist in their own internal worlds.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Monkeys:
Near the beginning of the Das family’s drive to different sacred sites in East India, the children notice a group of monkeys in the trees on the side of the road. Lahiri uses a simile and imagery here, as seen in the following passage:
"Monkeys!" Ronny shrieked. "Wow!”
They were seated in groups along the branches, with shining black faces, silver bodies, horizontal eyebrows, and crested heads. Their long gray tails dangled like a series of ropes among the leaves. A few scratched themselves with black leathery hands, or swung their feet, staring as the car passed.
Lahiri uses a simile here when noting how the monkeys’ tails “dangled like a series of ropes among the leaves.” She uses visual imagery when describing the monkeys “shining black faces, silver bodies, horizontal eyebrows, and crested heads,” as well as the way that they “scratched themselves with black leathery hands” and stared at the car.
All of these details bring readers more closely into the scene and also communicate that the monkeys pose a threat to the characters. The detail that their tails appear like “ropes” has an unnerving quality, given the way that ropes in trees typically designate someone has been (or will be) hanged. Likewise, the descriptions of the monkeys’ appearance are slightly ominous—their “horizontal eyebrows,” “leathery hands,” and unsettling stares suggest that they are somewhat menacing creatures. That Ronny is excited to see them hints at the fact that the Dases—an Indian American family on a tourist trip—are not aware of the threats that the monkeys pose.
Related Themes:
