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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—Like a Water Buffalo:
In a particularly poignant scene, Jack’s mother tries to explain to her husband and young son why she doesn’t want to stop speaking Mandarin, only to have her husband push back. Jack, in his role as narrator, captures his mother’s emotions in this moment using a simile, as seen in the following passage:
Mom looked at him. “If I say ‘love,’ I feel here.” She pointed to her lips. “If I say ‘ai,’ I feel here.” She put her hand over her heart.
Dad shook his head. “You are in America.”
Mom hunched down in her seat, looking like the water buffalo when Laohu used to pounce on him and squeeze the air of life out of him.
The simile here—in which Jack notes that his mother looks like a "water buffalo" when a tiger ("Laohu") "used to pounce on him and squeeze the air of life out of him"—captures how dejected his mother feels here. She has shared vulnerably with her family that saying “love” in Mandarin helps her to actually feel love, while saying it in English does not, and her husband not only fails to empathize with her but resorts to the culturally insensitive statement that she is “in America,” implying that to be American means you must speak English.
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