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What is a Simile in Literature? (Definition)
A simile is a figure of speech in which two objects are directly compared, usually including either “like” or “as” in the comparison. “He is as quiet as a mouse” is a simile and the most common phrasing, but “He is quiet, like a mouse,” would be considered a simile as well. Writers use similes to convey complex ideas more simply and with more descriptive language. A writer could merely say “He is quiet,” but comparing the character to a mouse forges connections in the reader’s mind that add depth to the character and the narrative.
Examples of Simile
Example 1: Simile in Lord of the Flies
In the final chapter of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the narrator uses this description of Ralph’s frantic attempt to escape Jack and the other boys as they violently pursue him: “Ralph launched himself like a cat; stabbed, snarling, with the spear, and the savage doubled up.” Comparing Ralph to a cat renders him animalistic in his actions, a wild, snarling creature relying purely on instinct. Like the other boys, Ralph has gone from “civilized” to “savage,” and the use of simile here paints a vivid picture of his transformation.
Example 2: Simile in To Kill a Mockingbird
In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout narrates in Chapter 13, “Aunt Alexandra fitted into the world of Maycomb like a hand into a glove, but never into the world of Jem and me.” She uses this simile to highlight how well-suited her aunt was to their hometown by comparing Alexandra to a hand and Maycomb to a glove. The simile also works to explain, by contrast, how ill-suited Alexandra was to the world of Scout and Jem; theirs is a smaller world, one in which Alexandra doesn’t quite fit because she values that which Scout and Jem do not—namely family ancestry and the Maycomb social order.
Example 3: Simile in 1984
In George Orwell’s 1984, Winston Smith writes feverishly in his diary while a woman on the telescreen sings a patriotic song, and the narrator says, “Her voice seemed to stick into his brain like jagged splinters of glass.” Winston is terrified that he will soon be arrested by the Thought Police, and while he attempts to commit one final act of revolution by writing in his diary (which is punishable by death), the woman’s singing can’t be ignored. Comparing her voice to jagged splinters of glass suggests the Party’s propaganda is both harmful and unrelenting, and not easy to be rid of.
Common Misunderstandings about Simile
Similes are often confused with metaphors. The simplest way to distinguish between them is to remember that, though both compare one thing to another, similes use the words “like” or “as,” while metaphors do not. For instance, in William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, the character Jaques says, “All the world’s a stage / And all the men and women merely players,” which is a metaphor. He is not saying the world is actually a stage; rather, he likens the world to one, and its people to actors playing a predetermined role to make depressing and grandiose claims about life and human behavior. If this had been phrased as a simile, the beginning of the monologue might instead read, “All the world is like a stage, and all the men and women as predictable as players.”
Why Does Simile Matter?
A simile is a versatile figure of speech. An author might use one to clarify complex ideas, or to add depth to an otherwise basic description. For instance, a writer could describe the wind as “cold” and simply leave it at that, but by expanding on this to say the wind is “as cold as ice,” they would be able to clarify for the reader using descriptive language exactly how cold they should imagine the wind to be. Comparing two unlike objects or ideas also enables the author to forge a connection with the reader. The previous example works because it is based on the shared understanding both author and reader have that ice is particularly cold. At their most basic, similes allow the author to engage the reader by invoking the familiar, creating a richer reading experience.
