Tree-ear’s clinging onto Crane-man’s good leg
The imagery of Tree-ear clinging onto Crane-man’s good leg is enhanced through the use of a simile. Explicitly, the writer compares this scenario to a monkey clinging to a tree. In this way, Tree-ear’s unwillingness to leave the man’s care is brought out. The writer notes: “You clung to my good leg like a monkey to a tree.”
The curves of the vase
The writer employs rich language including vivid and intense descriptions in the presentation of the intricate and elaborate beauty of the vase. The curves of the vase are made explicit through their comparison to the petals of a flower. In this way, the perfectness of the vase is emphasized: “To his eyes, the vase had been perfect, its width half its height, its curves like those of a flower petal.”
Tree-ear’s shame and resentment
Tree-ear’s shame after failing to complete Min’s work as per the instructions is brought out through the use of a simile. In particular, the boy’s conflicted state is brought out when the narrator notes: “He felt like a beast with two heads, one ashamed, the other resentful.” The simile thus emphasizes the boy’s disputed state in concrete terms.
The joy of being forgiven
The joy that Tree-ear develops after being forgiven is brought out through the writer’s particular association of the same with a wisp of smoke. In this way, the simile enhances a deeper conception of the boy’s happiness: “Tree-ear's joy at being forgiven was like a wisp of smoke.”
Tree-ear hopping like a rabbit
The imagery of Tree-ear’s hopping in their little den is explicitly brought out through the employment of a simile. The comparison of the way the boy hops in the den to a rabbit evokes in the reader a more profound and deep visual connotation to the hops of a rabbit while also bringing out the boy’s playful nature at the time: “Tree-ear began hopping about their little den like a rabbit.”
