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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 6
Explanation and Analysis—The Mountains:
The imagery used to describe the unique environment of Anarres is often vivid, emphasizing the beauty of the planet. Take this description of the mountain landscape that backgrounds Shevek and Takver's commitment to a partnership:
He found her on the steep slope, sitting among the delicate bushes of moonthorn that grew like knots of lace over the mountainsides, its stiff, fragile branches silvery in the twilight. In a gap between eastern peaks a colorless luminosity of the sky heralded moonrise. The stream was noisy in the silence of the high, bare hills. There was no wind, no cloud. The air above the mountains was like amethyst, hard, clear, profound.
This passage uses a simile to describe the plant life and the air of the mountains, imbuing them with meaning beyond their outward appearance. The "moonthorn" is like lace and the air like amethyst, both precious things that give the scene an air of enchantment. Notably, both objects of comparison are inanimate. The imagery here emphasizes stillness, portraying the scene as if it were a static picture. The elaboration on the surroundings focuses on tactile qualities that layers a physical feeling on top of the visual description. Furthermore, the attention to sensory details like the light of the sky at twilight, the sound of the stream in the otherwise silent area, and the stillness of the air let the reader feel as if they were in Shevek’s place, experiencing what he is experiencing.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Planets Circling:
When Shevek and Takver have sex in Chapter 10 after reuniting, the act is expressed with a simile that compares them to planets moving in space:
They did not even light the lamp; they both liked making love in darkness. The first time they both came as Shevek came into her, the second time they struggled and cried out in a rage of joy, prolonging their climax as if delaying the moment of death, the third time they were both half asleep, and circled about the center of infinite pleasure, about each other’s being, like planets circling blindly, quietly, in the flood of sunlight, about the common center of gravity, swinging, circling endlessly.
The simile here compares Shevek and Takver to two planets and compares their intercourse to those planets’ orbit about a shared center. This comparison lends the action cosmic significance, articulating the importance of the moment both to the individuals involved and to the novel. The orbit of celestial bodies is unerring and monumental, compelled by forces greater than the planets themselves, much like how Shevek and Takver's movements have always been at the behest of other forces. The simile also obliquely relates the pair to Urras and Anarres, gesturing towards the shared fate of the two planets and inversely suggesting that Urras and Anarres’s relationship is somehow copulatory.
Related Themes:
