Hellen Keller treated as child (simile)
"Helen Keller is not the only person this approach treats like a child" (25).
This sentence compares Hellen Keller's treatment in textbooks to that of a youth, not of a fully realized and flawed adult.
Columbus as Christ (simile)
"Columbus, like Christ, was so pivotal that historians use him to divide the past into epochs, making the Americas before 1492 'pre-Columbian'" (29).
Here we see the author use a simile to illustrate the crucial status that Columbus is given in history—he is nearly Christ-like in his importance despite being very far from Christ in his behavior.
Native Americans as animals (simile)
"Their hair was not curly but loose and coarse like horse-hair" (51).
This quote is part of an entry in Christopher Columbus' journal from October 13, 1492 while he explored the Americas. It records his first impression of the Arawark Indians, and his instinct to dehumanize them as unlike Europeans, immediately comparing them to animals.
Native Americans as desperate people (simile)
"Among them were many women who had infants at the breast. They, in order the better to escape us, since they were afraid we would turn to catch them again, left their infants anywhere on the ground and started to flee like desperate people" (52).
This sentence is from a description from a Spanish eye-witness of Columbus's round up of 1,500 Arawaks to choose slaves from, because he had not found any gold yet and was upset. This simile shows the desperation of the Native Americans and the cruelty of Columbus.
Explorers as lost children (simile)
"William Erasmus, a Canadian Indian, pointed out, 'Explorers you call great men were helpless. They were like lost children, and it was our people who took care of them'" (61).
This simile illustrates that, rather than being the heroes that posterity and their own pride tried to portray them as, the European explorers of America were actually rather pitiful and inept and would not have survived without the generous help of the Native Americans.
