The simile of a tiny baby
As a way of distracting herself from the sad news about her mother's demise, Lucy keeps herself busy with insects. She observes how the month deposits its powder and sail slowly towards her like a tiny baby. The author writes, "Lucy watched a pale spotted month sail slowly towards her face, land on the net, deposit its powder, and lift unevenly away. It was waving like a tiny baby hand in the darkness.”
The simile of a bridal garment
The narrator compares the insects trapped in a mosquito net to a bridal garment. The author writes, “Insects at the mosquito net, which fell, silver and conical like a bridal garment around them."
The simile of being like a criminal
Lucy compares her distractive activities to criminality. The author writes, "She liked the smoke, the tiny flame, the appearance of a black-ringed hole – all those fiery perforations that damaged the cloth so irreparably. It was like being a criminal; Lucy felt the serious pleasure of doing something forbidden.”
The simile of the magnifying glass
Lucy realizes that chickens are looking at her and yearning to peck her knees. To scare the chickens, Lucy swung her magnifying glass as if it was a deadly weapon to kill them. The author writes, "She swung her magnifying glass as if it was a deadly weapon. She hated the chickens because they pecked at her knees when she fed them and because they knew."
The simile of bereavement
Lucy blames Mrs. Minchin for her mother's death. While she is in the house to mourn her mother, Lucy realizes that the house's somber mood is unbearable. She argues that the grief in the place was like an abstract quality of distortion. The author writes, "In the house, bereavement settled as an abstract of distortion."
