Figurative Language in My Sister's Keeper

simile- is the comparison of two unlike things using like or as


metaphor- comparison of two UNLIKE things. Metaphors are used to help us understand the unknown, because we use what we know in comparison with something we don't know to get a better understanding of the unknown.

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/

Similes:

• "Moments like this are the same kind of vacuum; no matter that you cling to, you wind up being sucked in." (11)
• "But it feels like we are sitting on the tight bench of a bus with a stranger between us, one that neither of us is willing to admit to or mention, and so we find ourselves talking around him and through him and sneaking glances when the other one isn't looking." (118)
• "She just moved toward the elevator banks with Jesse attached to her like a mussel on a crusty hull, and pushes the down button over and over in the fruitless hope that it will actually make the doors open faster." (136)

Metaphors:

• "My father says that a fire will burn itself out, unless you open a window and give it fuel." (13)
• "An inferno races through my belly and legs I fall back onto the couch." (15)
• "The temperature of the room, or maybe the wall that comes that comes up in her eyes." (118)

Both:

• "The room is a sea of dirty clothes and magazines and leftover Chinese take-out cartons  ." (14)
• "Unlike the other girls in school, with their smooth waterfalls of yellow hair caught up like ribbon candy, hers was an absolute tornado of black curls, and she never wore makeup-just those sharp features, take it or leave it." (120)