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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
1919
Explanation and Analysis—Paper Dolls:
As he exits the hospital following his military service in 1919, Shadrack notices people who look like “paper dolls.” This metaphor emphasizes how Shadrack’s grasp on reality has shifted and illustrates his new perspective on the world:
They were thin slips, like paper dolls floating the walks. Some were seated in chairs with wheels, propelled by other paper figures from behind. All seemed to be smoking, and their arms and legs curved in the breeze. A good high wind would pull them up and away and they would land perhaps among the tops of the trees.
Having been away from normal society and domestic life, Shadrack’s reintroduction to reality is muddled. His perception of people as “paper dolls” reflects this fact. However, it is also clear that Morrison is deliberately withholding an explanation of what Shadrack witnessed during war and how it has affected him.
Considering the novel’s larger examinations of racism and community identity (especially in relation to women’s roles in society), Shadrack’s perception of people as “paper dolls” may imply that individuals within society are replica images of one another, lacking the strength to remain rooted to the earth as real people. As dolls, they fit into prescribed roles and situations—this is likely why Shadrack feels a “good high wind” would easily blow them away. With this extended metaphor, Morrison prompts the reader to consider not only the trauma Shadrack likely experiences in the war, but also how this trauma might reveal to him a version of reality that others cannot access. This unique perspective, especially as it emerges early in the novel, establishes Morrison's emphasis on community identity.
Related Themes:
1921
Explanation and Analysis—A Sledge Hammer:
In the following passage from 1921, Morrison foreshadows the death of Plum using a simile to illustrate Eva’s growing hatred for her son:
A high-pitched big-city laugh that reminded Eva of Chicago. It hit her like a sledge hammer, and it was then that she knew what to feel. A liquid trail of hate flooded her chest.
Morrison compares Plum’s new “big-city laugh” to a “sledge hammer” through simile. Plum has become an entirely different person to Eva after returning from the war, including his new laugh that shows off all the cities he has traveled to. Eva is reminded that her domestic lifestyle and role as mother have condemned her to the Bottom, while men such as Plum or BoyBoy can exercise greater independence and travel as they please. This contrast between the restrictive qualities of her womanhood and her newly independent son is essentially what leads her to resent her son.
This passage contributes to the novel’s overall examination of motherhood and womanhood, especially in relation to children. Many of the mothers in Bottom experience a similar love-hate relationship with their children, as they are bound to a static lifestyle by these relationships. Morrison explores the potentially destructive effects of such unresolved emotions through this relationship between Eva and her son.
Related Themes:
1922
Explanation and Analysis—Let Your Hair Down:
In the following passage from 1922, Morrison personifies different summer plants to contrast with the young boys of Bottom:
Heavy sunflowers weeping over fences; iris curling and browning at the edges far away from their purple hearts; ears of corn letting their auburn hair wind down to their stalks. And the boys. The beautiful, beautiful boys who dotted the landscape like jewels, split the air with their shouts in the field, and thickened the river with their shining wet backs.
In her personification, Morrison plays with double meanings of words—an iris’s “heart” could simply refer to its purple center and ears of corn do have hair. However, the first image of “heavy sunflowers weeping” makes clear that Morrison is being deliberate about personifying these plants.
After illustrating each plant example, Morrison shifts her focus on the “beautiful, beautiful boys” of Bottom. Through the use of personification and the proximity of descriptions, Morrison attempts to make the boys and their beauty a natural phenomenon. She uses simile to compare the boys to “jewels,” which are, again, an aspect of the natural world. The plant images prop up the description of the boys, and by adding human features to these plants, the boys, too, become a part of nature.
These descriptions are utilized through the context of Nel and Sula’s perspectives. As they approach womanhood, the two girls become increasingly interested in men and their own sexualities. This series of images, then, serves to demonstrate just how seductive and all-encompassing the girls’ interest in boys becomes.
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