Similes often bring a playful quality to writing. They can lighten an otherwise serious tone and help readers better visualize a story. Students can have fun discussing similes, which abound in The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
Students often find similes one of the easiest literary devices to identify. However, just because a sentence contains “like” or “as,” it doesn’t necessary sport a simile. Students need to keep in mind that a direct comparison must be made in order to for a simile to exist. For instance, "I feel like I’m going to be sick" is not a simile. On the other hand, the following sentence is a simile: "Feeling on the verge of vomiting is like falling out of a helicopter thousands of feet above the earth." Teachers should encourage students to keep their eyes peeled for specific comparisons—and prepare to explain them to their peers.
Similes that Describe People
Lily Owen’s environment is shaped by the people around her. It is no wonder that her observations are chock-full of colorful similes intent on describing the unique characters that surround her.
In the following quote, Lily describes June’s love interest, Neal. “He wore blue jeans and an undershirt with grease smears on it, along with horn-rimmed glasses. He looked like a very studious mechanic” (Kidd 104). In this simple simile, Lily has turned Neil into a bit of an oxymoron. What a wonderful way to help develop a complex character! The combination of grease smears and jeans offsets Neil’s horn-rimmed glasses.
Lily often provides self-analysis, such as in the following simile: “I felt like the Red Cross springing to action to save the bee queendom” (Kidd 166). Here, Lily compares herself to the Red Cross. She is working feverishly with August to help save the bees from an extreme South Carolina heat wave. If the bees are not provided with sugar water, they might roast in their hives. Fortunately, Lily and August race to their rescue.
In this next simile, Lily compares the woman of the Daughters of Mary to colorful seaweed. “The Daughters of Mary got to their feet and swayed together like colorful seaweed on the ocean floor” (Kidd 110). The women are dressed colorfully and wearing ornate hats with feathers; as they dance, they resemble the movement of seaweed. Lily admires the beauty and grace of these black Southern women.
Similes that Describe Nature
The natural world is omnipresent throughout the novel. Lily's observations of nature help readers appreciate her sensitivity. Lily shares a deep connection with nature, which is evident by the many similes she shares about her surroundings. Here are a few.
In the following simile, Lily compares kudzu vines to giant hammocks: “It was a different universe down there, the water shining with flecks of moving light and kudzu vines draped between the pine trees like giant hammocks” (Kidd 51). Even if a reader has never seen a kudzu vine, a clear image emerges in her mind after reading this descriptions. This quote also exemplifies imagery, and perhaps even setting. Students should be encouraged to explain how additional literary elements might be exemplified in a variety of novel excerpts.
In this last simile, Lily compares a swarm of bees to a black balloon. “She went into minute detail about the way she’d searched high and low, into the dusk hours, combing the woods out past the watermelon fields, finally finding the bees in a magnolia sapling, the whole swarm hanging there like a black balloon caught in the branches” (Kidd 184). Once again, Lily observes nature. Here, she explains how the innumerable bees have relocated to another tree and hidden themselves among the branches. This image helps readers picture how large the swarm must be that it appears as one entity, a black balloon.
Similes are fun, easy to grasp literary devices which pervade literature. The sooner students are able to identify and deconstruct similes in a variety of texts, the more confident they will become about their literary analysis skills. Identifying and discussing similes in small groups is a great activity to remind middle and high school students that reading is fun and that it is meant to be an adventure. These vibrant similes dance in front of the eyes of readers, enticing imagination to take over. With these similes and other literary devices sprinkled generously throughout the novel, readers will have no trouble mastering them.
Thadra Petkus - Thadra Petkus is currently a freelance writer, English teacher and mentor. Although she has taught students from age two through ...
