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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 1
Explanation and Analysis—Knife-Edge Nose:
When he first describes Otto Lidenbrock, Axel employs imagery and a simile to craft a memorable image of his uncle. This provides readers with early insights into both Lidenbrock's physical appearance and his character:
Fancy to yourself a tall, spare man, with an iron constitution, and a juvenile fairness of complexion, which took off a full ten years of his fifty. His large eyes rolled about incessantly behind his great goggles; his long thin nose resembled a knife-blade; malicious people declared it was magnetised, and attracted steel filings—a pure calumny; it attracted nothing but snuff, but, to speak truth, a superabundance of that.
Axel repeatedly associates his uncle with the visual imagery of metal and minerals. This seems fitting, as he’s a scientist who studies them, but it also aligns with the professor's looks and temperament. He’s not a cozy, welcoming figure. Instead, he’s “tall,” “spare,” and has an “iron constitution.” All of this suggests that he is unyielding, hardy and robust, much like the minerals and metals he examines as a geologist. These visual details help readers visualize a character who is as tough and enduring as the rock and stone specimens he works with.
The simile comparing Lidenbrock's nose to a knife-blade further accentuates how severe he seems. By likening his nose to a sharp, surgical instrument, the passage communicates that Lidenbrock is perceived as cutting and abrasive. The phrase “hard-nosed” is often used to describe someone who is tough, shrewd, practical, and stubborn. Lidenbrock is all of these things, so it makes sense that his nose seems like it’s made of iron.
Axel lightens the mood by noting that while it might look like it could magnetize metal, his uncle’s nose is actually mostly used for “snuff.” Snuff was a kind of powdered tobacco popular in the Victorian period. It provided a quickly absorbable dose of nicotine and also made the user sneeze, which was thought to be healthy. This reference tempers the “iron” hardness of this description a little. The compulsive sneezing that snuff causes doesn’t seem as harsh and mineral-like as Lidenbrock’s other characteristics: indeed, it’s almost silly. Although he's certainly tough and "spare," Lidenbrock does have some redeeming human qualities.
Related Themes:
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Leyden Jar:
In this passage, the author uses a simile and an allusion to a scientific instrument. This conveys Professor Lidenbrock’s excitement upon discovering new, exciting information about the Saknussemm book:
My uncle gave a leap as he read this, as if suddenly touched by a Leyden jar. He was magnificent in his joy, and daring, and conviction.
The allusion Verne makes here is to an invention from the 18th century that was often used to power early electrical devices or create dramatic sparks. Alluding to touching a "Leyden jar"—a device used to store high-voltage static electric charges—illustrates the intensity and suddenness of Professor Lidenbrock's reaction in this scene. Touching a Leyden jar would certainly cause a shocking response to anyone who tried it. Even the Professor's most natural and unrehearsed emotional moments are recounted in the language of scientific experimentation.
With this allusion, Verne makes the case that the newfound knowledge has literally electrified the professor. He’s so enlivened by it that he gives “a leap” as he reads it. This comparison not only highlights the professor’s explosive enthusiasm, but also literally suggests that the revelation is giving the professor energy and vitality. His reaction to it is so vivid that it’s funny, allowing the reader to understand just how deeply Lidenbrock’s dedication to science runs.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—From High Up:
In this excerpt from his time in Denmark in Chapter 8, the narrator uses visual imagery and a simile to convey the breathtaking and disorienting view from a Copenhagen steeple. As Axel clambers his way to the top, urged on by the Professor, he describes the scene as follows:
Above my head scattered clouds were passing, and by an optical inversion they seemed to me motionless, while the steeple, and ball, and myself were whirling down with fantastic swiftness. In the distance, on one side lay the green plains, and on the other the sparkling sea. The Sound spread out before Elsinore, and sundry white sails, like the wings of sea birds, and in the mist, to the east, appeared the faint outlines of the Swedish coast.
The visual imagery of this passage invokes a captivating, dizzying vista. Axel is looking out at the city from a significant height, feeling the vertigo-inducing movement of the rushing wind. The “optical illusion” he describes allows readers to envision the vast landscape and seascape laid out beneath the steeple. The “scattered clouds” are actually the only thing that’s really moving, but they make the “green plains” and “sparkling sea” seem like they’re bounding up toward the narrator. Movement and stillness are reversed in Axel’s perspective, and this “inversion” makes him feel like he’s falling. The reader feels his sense of disorientation and excitement intensely.
It’s also an interesting contrast to the coming adventure. Although he's scared, Axel is also exhilarated by being so far above the ground. However, he is still terrified to venture below it.
Furthermore, the simile comparing distant sails to “the wings of sea birds” contributes to the reader's understanding of how high up Axel really is. The ships he’s describing are actually huge: they would have to be, if they're visible from so far away. However, he’s on such a tall building that they seem as tiny as “the wings of sea birds” in the distance. The “wings” of the ships in this scene point to the idea of exploration and the possibility of journeying across vast spaces. Although Axel has no idea how much of his adventure he’ll spend near streams, rivers, and seas, this scene subtly mirrors the impending journey by water.
Related Themes:
