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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—Skin Like a Snake’s:
When detailing the positive effects that baby Luck’s presence has on the men of Roaring Camp, the narrator describes the change that takes place in the gruff outlaw Kentuck, using a simile in the process:
Stumpy imposed a kind of quarantine upon those who aspired to the honor and privilege of holding “The Luck.” It was a cruel mortification to Kentuck—who, in the carelessness of a large nature and the habits of frontier life, had begun to regard all garments as a second cuticle, which, like a snake’s, only sloughed off through decay—to be debarred this privilege from certain prudential reasons. Yet such was the subtle influence of innovation that he thereafter appeared regularly every afternoon in a clean shirt, and face still shining from his ablutions.
In this passage, the narrator explains how, because Stumpy requires that all men who hold baby Luck be presentable, Kentuck gives up his old pattern of “regard[ing] all garments as a second cuticle, which, like a snake’s, only sloughed off through decay.” This simile makes it clear that, while Kentuck used to be comfortable appearing as a dirty and ragged outlaw (who only changed his clothes when they were extremely damaged or decayed), he is willing to give up his rough image and change his ways for the “privilege” of holding the newborn baby Luck. In this way, Harte communicates that the baby’s presence is transforming and softening the men of Roaring Camp.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Evening at the Camp:
When describing the calm evenings at Roaring Camp after baby Luck is born, Harte uses a simile and imagery, as seen in the following passage:
It was a fine sight to see Jack holding The Luck, rocking from side to side as if with the motion of a ship, and crooning forth this naval ditty […] At such times the men would lie at full length under the trees, in the soft summer twilight, smoking their pipes and drinking in the melodious utterances. An indistinct idea that this was pastoral happiness pervaded the camp.
The simile here—in which Jack’s rocking of baby Luck while singing him a lullaby is compared to “the motion of a ship”—communicates how gently Jack is rocking the child. Despite Jack’s normally rough sailor exterior, he treats baby Luck with immense care, rocking him back and forth in the manner of soft waves. This is one of the many examples of the ways that baby Luck’s presence challenges the hypermasculinity of the men in the camp.
The imagery here also shows how the men are softening as they raise the Luck. The descriptions of the men lying down in “the soft summer twilight” and “drinking in the melodious utterances” of Jack’s lullaby helps readers to imagine themselves into the scene, seeing the colors of twilight and hearing Jack’s tender singing, letting go of the performance of bravado along with the men.
Related Themes:
