Simile: Summertime
"Summertime is like a shaft of sunlight" (98) is Stuart's resonant simile during the conversation with Katherine about the pillow. The pillow has great meaning to Katherine because a boy gave it to her one summer. Summertime is here presented as not merely a season marked by climate, but a metaphor for all those hopes for idealized expectations. In summertime, it often seems like the light is always on and the night is never quite as dark; anything seems possible.
Simile: Stuart
Stuart writes to Miss Ames that "My only drawback is that I look something like a mouse" (109). Trying to impress her, he admits to being just slightly over two inches tall and also adds he is muscular and well-proportioned. But he only goes so far as to say that looks like a mouse. The reader must consider whether or not Stuart is a mouse, or a human who looks like a mouse, or whether it even matters at all.
Metaphor: Stuart
When the shopkeeper tells Stuart about Miss Ames, he is initially uninterested and takes pains to express how itinerant he is: "I'm not much of a society man these days. Too much on the move. I never stay long anywhere—I blow into a town and blow right out again, here today, gone tomorrow, a will 'o wisp" (104). The dictionary defines the will 'o the wisp as: "a flame-like phosphorescence caused by gases from decaying plants in marshy areas. In olden days, it was personified as 'Will with the wisp,' a sprite who carried a fleeting 'wisp' of light." This metaphor allows Stuart to paint himself as never staying in one place, as leaving barely a trace as he moves about the land.
Simile: Canoe
Stuart tells Miss Ames that his "canoe is like an old and trusted friend" (110). Not only is this ironic, as Stuart does not actually own a canoe at this point, but it is a simple simile that is meant to suggest to Miss Ames that Stuart is a waterman, skilled with a craft and capable of showing a lady a delightful time.
