SIMILES AND METAPHORSChapters 12-17

SIMILES AND METAPHORS

Similes and metaphors are comparisons between two things to create images in the reader’s mind.

• Similes compare two things with the use of the word “like” or “as.”• “Standing stiff as a stork” is a simile that compares someone

standing still just as a stork does, and one can imagine a stork, one let up behind it.

SIMILES AND METAPHORS

Similes and metaphors are comparisons between two things to create images in the reader’s mind.

• Metaphors compare two things as though they were the same thing.• “Summer was Dill” is a metaphor that says summer and Scout’s

friend, Dill, were the same thing to her because Scout always associated summer with their adventures together at that time.

SIMILESSome of the similes Harper Lee uses in this section of the book include the following. The key words are in bold print to help you recognize what makes each phrase a simile.

• Ladies are like soft teacakes with frosting of sweat and sweet talcum.

• The Radley place…drew Dill as the moon draws the water.• Jem waved my words away as if fanning at gnats.• Smoke was rolling off our house…like fog off a riverbank.• …suspend in thin layer of ice like a fly in amber.• He shivered like a rabbit.• …screaming like a stuck hog.

METAPHORSSome of the metaphors in the book include these. The words in parenthesis name the two things being compared.

• I never loved to read. One does not love breathing. (reading and breathing)

• …tinfoil…winking at me in the afternoon sun. (tinfoil and something with eyes)

• Jem’s mind was racing. (mind and something which moves quickly)

• He began pouring out our secrets left and right. (secrets and something pourable)

• Time has slowed to a nauseating crawl. (time and something which crawls)

• …walls of a pink penitentiary closing in on me. (walls and something that moves)

• Shadows become substance. (shadows and something you can feel)

ASSIGNMENT1. Find three more similes in this section of the book and

write them in your notebook.2. Find three more metaphors in this section of the book

and write them in your notebook.3. Write a simile and a metaphor of your own.4. Write a paragraph in your notebook describing one of

the following, using at least one simile and one metaphor.

• A scene at the beach or the lake• An auto race• A fashion show• Saturday afternoon at the shopping

mall• A school assembly

CITATIONS

Robbins, Mari Lu. "Similes and Metaphors." A Guide for Using To Kill a Mockingbird in the Classroom, Based on the Novel Written by Harper Lee. Westminster, CA: Teacher Created Materials, 1999. 25. Print.