Previous
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
Chapter 7, Heavier Boots
Explanation and Analysis—Like Just One Bird:
Foer's novel makes frequent use of simile to create vivid imagery and reveal how Oskar processes the world. As a highly visual and imaginative thinker, Oskar often explains what he sees or feels by comparing it to something unexpected, turning abstract sensations into concrete images.
One striking example comes when Oskar sees a flock of birds outside a window:
Then, out of nowhere, a flock of birds flew by the window, extremely fast and incredibly close. Maybe twenty of them. Maybe more. But they also seemed like just one bird, because somehow they all knew exactly what to do.
This simile captures the uncanny unity of the flock, allowing the reader to picture dozens of birds moving in perfect harmony. It also reflects Oskar's own fascination with togetherness. At a time when he is profoundly alone, he's drawn to images of many acting as one. This image, perhaps a stand-in for the village Oskar finds in the strangers of New York, is the one from which Foer draws his title.
Oskar's similes often have a childlike directness. Sometimes they carry humor, other times they are deeply poignant. By filtering description through simile, Foer invites readers to inhabit Oskar's mind. They not only picture what he sees, they also feel the emotional resonances of his comparisons, which range from whimsical to heartbreaking.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13, “Alive and Alone”
Explanation and Analysis—"A fist, or a flower":
In one of the novel's most vivid similes, Oskar describes the moment he decides to dig up his father's empty coffin:
And then a thought came into my brain that wasn’t like the other thoughts. It was closer to me, and louder. I didn’t know where it came from, or what it meant, or if I loved it or hated it. It opened up like a fist, or a flower. What about digging up dad’s empty coffin?
Here, Oskar compares the arrival of the thought to two opposing images: a fist and a flower. The fist, which either clenches around something hidden or prepares to strike, conveys tension and force. The flower evokes delicacy, openness, and organic beauty. Together, they capture the paradox of the thought itself: it is both frightening and oddly welcome, born from grief but carrying a strange promise.
This double simile also mirrors Oskar's complex emotional state. The idea is "closer" and "louder" than his other thoughts, suggesting urgency. Like a fist, it grips him tightly. Like a flower, it unfurls into something larger than its initial form.
The juxtaposition of these images underscores the novel's broader interplay between trauma and imagination. Foer's choice to link such dissonant comparisons invites the reader to feel the thought's physicality, its pressure and release, and to inhabit Oskar's contradictory emotions: fear of what he might uncover and hope that the act might bring him closer to his father.
Related Themes:
