Beneath a Scarlet Sky: Similes 9 key examples

The simile “like a cat at night” provides an image of Pino as a young man of stealth and intelligence: qualities with which he tries desperately to impress the older and more mature Anna. Although the surrounding environment of war-torn Italy is very likely not “safe and sound” as Pino claims, he attempts to appeal to Anna with his confidence and smooth talking, at the young age of 17. At this early point in the novel, Pino is unaware of how dangerous Italy will soon become, and he remains naive to the oncoming march of fascism. Through his attempts to impress Anna, Sullivan reminds readers of Pino’s youthful qualities of blissful ignorance and male heroism. Pino longs to keep others safe and feels he possesses a high level of awareness of the world around him—hence the comparison of his movements to cats who can see in the dark.

The simile “like the blast had cut out part of his heart” speaks to the deep feelings of sadness and regret within Pino over Carletto’s outrage and loss of his father. Pino attempts to have empathy for Carletto and the tragedy of his father’s death, and he is also heartbroken—a feeling Sullivan expresses by evoking the literal image of a shattered heart. At this point in the novel, Pino recognizes that wearing the Nazi uniform comes with consequences. Even if his loyalties lie with the Allies, he will not be recognized for his internal sympathies while he continues to wear the physical representations of German fascism.

The simile “like they’d been stuck with a cattle prod” is a figurative way to illustrate how Nazi soldiers were trained during WWII to act in constant obedience towards senior military authority. Not only are these younger soldiers expected to obey any command, but they appear to greatly fear General Leyers, as evidenced by their refusal to look him directly in the eye. Standing with rigid posture is a sign of respect, deference to authority, and power: the Nazi Party prized the visual image of uniform militarism, and the passage above demonstrates as much.

Additionally, this passage demonstrates the power of Nazism in general to demand constant and unrelenting obedience from its soldiers. Earlier in the novel, Sullivan reveals that General Leyers is in direct contact with Hitler’s architects who have planned and executed both the Holocaust itself and Germany's broader military campaigns across Europe. Leyers is a powerful figure, and Pino’s proximity to Leyers becomes a key part of the novel as Pino—an undiscovered spy for the Allies—gains access to Hitler’s inner circle.

The simile "like ants with their hill split open" heightens the image of the enslaved population's sheer scale and speaks to the dehumanization Nazi victims faced during World War II. To control the masses, Nazis must first suppress their victims and forcibly turn them into an enslaved, uniform block. These victims lose their individual senses of identity and power and become reduced to tools barely capable of performing slave labor. This horrific and dehumanizing portrait heightens the tension and tragedy at the core of Beneath a Scarlet Sky. It also serves to expose Pino to the horrific policies of the Nazi Party and radicalize him to fight against its power from within.

Here, Sullivan uses a simile to compare the mass amount of German Nazi war vehicles expanding across Italy to “war elephants.” Throughout the novel Sullivan utilizes multiple figurative techniques, such as similes, to impress upon the reader the immense and almost unfathomable scale of World War II. Comparing the Nazis' military vehicles to thundering elephants heightens the overall tension of the novel and speaks to the highly orchestrated nature of conflict. Nazi officials orchestrate their armies to dress, act, move, and behave a certain way. However, in times of chaos and during particular moments of energy and rage, the movement of Nazi vehicles appears as chaotic as an animal rampage, as Pino observes.

Sullivan figuratively compares the skyline of Milan to a set of “jagged black-and-white teeth," depicting how repeated bombings have desecrated Milan’s architecture and natural landscape. Sullivan, writing through Pino’s point of view, imagines the skyline as a living object of terror and aggression, which the sky (and God) must resist with snowfall, which “blot[s] out the scars of war.” This evocative image heightens the nature of physical destruction that Pino overlooks. Pino cannot believe that the sight of Milan stirs terror within him, but the bombings have altered the state of the environment—as well as the state of the people themselves. Attributing human characteristics like teeth to a non-human entity such as buildings magnifies the horror. World War II is all-consuming for the city of Milan, and in this moment Pino recognizes the extent of its destructive capabilities.

Sullivan—narrating through Pino—compares the enslaved victims to a “single enslaved organism." This simile speaks powerfully to the dehumanization required for fascism to work. Fascism requires obedience from those who may otherwise dissent, and it additionally requires strength in numbers: both aggressors and victims. By using a simile to liken the thousands of people to a single organism, Sullivan effectively dehumanizes them to figuratively demonstrate tactics the Nazi Party relied on during World War II. The passage also heightens Pino's sense of horror about the war and his dual role as a spy and an active resistance member. Throughout the novel, Pino consistently finds himself at moral crossroads, for he cannot escape reminders of his participation in the Nazi system.

Sullivan’s simile comparing Mussolini to a “spring that had been overwound and sprung” demonstrates the immense physical and emotional toll that, assumedly, war and loss of power have taken upon Mussolini. His weaknesses are astonishingly visible, and he no longer has the ability to maintain a facade of ultimate strength and power—a baseline requirement for many fascist dictators. Comparing a human man to an overwound spring is an evocative image that speaks not only to Mussolini's inner state but his outer state as well. Mussolini appears to wear his stress and anxieties like clothing, which becomes highly visible to Pino. In addition, Sullivan removes a part of Mussolini’s descriptive power by first anonymizing him in this passage, referring to him as an “angry old man.” To depict fascist dictators as mere angry men—who first and foremost rely on their image to execute their agendas—is an effective way to heighten descriptions of their inevitable downfalls.

In the passage above, Cardinal Schuster argues that faith always returns, even if it disappears at times. The simile "like a falcon that nests year after year" figuratively illustrates the nature of faith in Schuster's eyes: its underlying presence is eternal, even if it seems to dematerialize when some need it most. This religious philosophy does not comfort Pino in the moment of its utterance, but eventually readers learn that in Pino's later years he regains his sense of faith. This moment is one of emotional vulnerability for both characters, and particularly for Pino—whose deep emotional scars may take years if not decades to heal. Additionally, the passage speaks for the novel as a whole in its reference to maintaining faith during times of immense hardship. Although war seems all-consuming within the novel itself and to the characters within its pages, Sullivan reminds readers that war is not eternal, and those caught in its crosshairs may have the ability to rebuild their faith in time.