Select Similes and Metaphors

SIMILES AND METAPHORS IN

THE BRIDE COMES TO YELLOW SKY

2007

SIMILES

At San Antonio he was like a man hidden in the dark

This is a simile which means that Jack Potter feels like a criminal Thus , he believed that He had committed an extraordinary crime ' This statement means that Jack believes that his method of marrying is similar to the way a criminal may act . A criminal will be hidden in the dark to kill his prey . Therefore , Jack went far away from Yellow Sky to meet his

bride and actually get married . He got married in a place that is figuratively hidden from his town and his friends . Second , the simile may also describe his willingness to defend his love against everything that his friends and towns people will say against it . He has a knife according to the simile , and he is willing to use this knife to sever any friendly duty , any form . Unfortunately , this feeling of ease existed only while he was far away from Yellow Sky

Potter 's mouth seemed to be merely a grave for his tongue

This means that he was unable to speak . The tongue is usually associated with the ability to speak . The mouth is also necessarily for speaking because people move their mouth when they speak . However , Jack was unable to move his mouth to speak . The tongue just lay at rest inside his mouth . It is compared the unmoving state of a corpse inside a grave . The grave has no other purpose , but to house the corpse Similarly , Jack 's mouth , at that time , served no other purpose but be a place where his tongue may be located

He sat with a hand on each knee , like a man waiting in a barbershop

This means that he is feeling a combination of being relaxed and impatient . A man in a barbershop is relaxed because he has nothing else to do . He is also impatient because he is waiting for his turn to have his hair cut . Thus , he merely sits waiting with a hand on each knee This is how Jack looks like while sitting in the couch . He looks and actually is relaxed and impatient . He is relaxed because he is married He is impatient because he has to tell his town about his marriage

It was a heavy and muscle-bound business , as that of a man shoeing his first horse

It means that it [fumbling a coin and giving the coin to the porter] was very difficult for Jack to do . A man shoeing a horse for the first time does not have the benefit of experience to make the task easier This is made harder by the natural tendency of a horse to be restless and uncooperative to such tasks . This shows the level of difficulty that Jack had to endure . However , the difficulty referred to may be psychological or emotional , rather than physical

METAPHORS

She was a slave to hideous rites gazing at...