The floating answer
After Marisa asks Daisy whether or not Jason liked her, she tries to use her gift to give her a plausible answer. A simile is used in the presentation of how Daisy tried to let the answer to Marisa’s question float towards her, directly comparing it to the floating of seaweed: “I tried to feel the answer, to let it float toward me like seaweed in a calm incoming tide.” The writer’s choice and application of this comparative language facilitates imagery.
The stretch of the narrator’s ambivalence
Vi is quite stressed out by the fact that he has to be interviewed for a television show and wants to cancel. A simile is used to enhance the reader’s perception of the stretch of her sister’s ambivalence on hearing her consideration of canceling the interview: “There was a shift in my chest—my ambivalence, stretching like a cat.” While exaggerating, the simile also plays the role of promoting imagery.
Vi’s smell
The imagery of Vi’s smell is enhanced through the use of a simile in which her odor is directly compared to that of an ashtray. In particular, the use of the simile enables the reader’s profound conception of Vi’s smell, considering the fact that she had been smoking cigarettes. The narrator notes: “Vi smelled like an ashtray, but at least no one watching her on TV would have any idea.”
Daisy’s clenched heart
The imaginings of Daisy’s clenched heart are enhanced through the explicit and unambiguous comparison to a clenched fist. An emphasis is thus created to enhance the reader’s conception of Daisy’s empathy with regards to Rosie’s pain. The writer notes: “She began to cry, and my heart clenched like a fist…” Here, the feelings of pity that Daisy hers for Rosie are implied.
Rosie’s odor
In enhancing the comprehension of a given characteristic, writer’s often employ varied style and language techniques often characterized by the use of similes. As a way of emphasizing Rosie’s foul smell, the writer uses a simile to compare her odor to that of dog shit. In this way, the simile evokes the imagery of something uncouth and foul. The writer notes: “Also—did Marisa realize this?—Rosie smelled like dog shit.”
