Analysis Pages

Simile in Peter Pan

Simile Examples in Peter Pan:

Chapter 1 - Peter Breaks Through

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"Her romantic mind was like the tiny boxes..."   (Chapter 1 - Peter Breaks Through)

This simile compares Mrs. Darling’s mind to matryoshka nesting dolls. These dolls appear as one large doll, but it can be opened to reveal smaller dolls inside of smaller dolls. The simile implies that Mrs. Darling’s mind is full of sweet and romantic surprises.

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"came through on the other side like the faces on a bad coinage...."   (Chapter 2 - The Shadow)

This simile conveys the idea that Mr. and Mrs. Darling have rehearsed and remembered the events of the night many times, and each time they seem to find more blame for themselves. It is likely an allusion to the adage that a “bad penny always turns up,” meaning mistakes return to haunt the people who make them.

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"as sharp as a knife with six blades and a saw..."   (Chapter 3 - Come Away, Come Away!)

This simile compares Michael's readiness for adventure with the keen edge of a sharp blade. "Sharp" has connotations of being quick-minded and ready for action. Perhaps the narrator chooses to over-explain Michael’s readiness because Michael is the youngest of the children and most willing to adventure.

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"In a moment they were as busy as tailors the night before a wedding..."   (Chapter 6 - The Little House)

This simile explains that the Lost Boys are extremely busy. Tailors are responsible for creating, mending, and altering clothing, so they would likely have a lot of work to frantically get ready the night before a wedding.

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"wide awake at once as a dog..."   (Chapter 8 - The Mermaids' Lagoon)

The narrator employs a simile to compare Peter to a dog to show his bravery and watchfulness. Recall earlier how the Lost Boys are all children who fell out of unwatched perambulators, and how Nana would instinctively check all the unattended perambulators at the park. In this comparison, since dogs are the Darling children’s protector, perhaps Peter has more responsibility than he realizes.

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"at night it disturbed him like an insect..."   (Chapter 12 - The Children Are Carried Off)

This simile describes how Peter bothers Hook in a nagging sort of way, much like an insect annoys a larger creature. This strong simile conveys the way in which Peter and Hook are enemies by still considering the fact that Peter is a child and Hook is an angry grown up.

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"dripping like a candle..."   (Chapter 13 - Do You Believe In Fairies?)

This simile works in two ways. First, the image of a candle dripping wax represents the sweat rolling down Hook’s face. Second, the heat from the candle flame melts wax, just as Hook sweats because of the heat caused by his nervousness and fear.

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"like bales of goods flung from hand to hand..."   (Chapter 13 - Do You Believe In Fairies?)

This simile creates an image of the pirates carelessly tossing the boys around as if they were simply objects.

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"like slaves to a fixed idea..."   (Chapter 15 - Hook or Me This Time)

In this context, “slaves” is not used to mean people owned by others. Instead, “slaves” indicates that the people are compulsively obsessed with certain ideas. This simile indicates that blind belief or following is a symptom of stupidity.

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