The description of the swirling of Laura's hair in the hot blowing wind
After receiving the news of her sister's death after driving off a bridge, Iris is unreceptive of the idea that her sister might have killed herself. In the description of the behavior of her hair in the hot blowing wind, the author uses a simile to bring into perception the imagery of her hair as it swirls in the wind, directly comparing it to the behavior of ink in spilt water. She says: "A hot wind was blowing around my head, the strands of my hair lifting and swirling in it, like ink spilled in water."
Theft hung in the air, glinting like a dragonfly
As Iris contemplates the last events that might have happened after her sister's death, she compares her lack of understanding of the same to theft; her particular lack of idea of what might have transpired. She says: "What had she been thinking of as the car sailed off the bridge, theft hung suspended in the afternoon sunlight, glinting like a dragonfly for that one instant of held breath before the plummet?"
The use of this particular simile plays the role of emphasizing the effulgent lack of understanding by Iris with regard to the whole situation of her sisters death.
The Description of the camera's leather cases
In the opening of the novel within the novel, The Blind Assassin opens by the narrators description of the camera which was used to take the only image of her beloved that she has. In this description, the narrator uses a simile to facilitate the creation of mental images in the mind of the reader with regard to the same camera. The camera is described as: "It’s black and white, taken by one of those boxy, cumbersome flash cameras from before the war, with their accordion-pleat nozzles and their well-made leather cases that looked like muzzles, with straps and intricate buckles."
Description of the heat emanating from the picture
The narrator uses a simile to bring to the reader's attention the idea of the way the afternoon heat was emanating from the picture from within the ladies hands. The use of this simile is necessary in promoting imagery. The writer describes the occasion as: "Holding her hand over the picture, she can still feel the heat coming up from it, like the heat from a sun-warmed stone at midnight."
The whiteness of the man's teeth like a scratched match flaring
The narrator explicitly and magnificently uses a simile to present and emphasize the whiteness of the man's teeth directly comparing the same to the flaring of a scratched match. The reader is thus able to comprehend the intensity of his teeth: "He’s smiling too—the whiteness of his teeth shows up like a scratched match flaring—but he’s holding up his hand, as if to fend her off in play, or else to protect himself from the camera, from the person who must be there, taking the picture; or else to protect himself from those in the future who might be looking at him, who might be looking in at him through this square, lighted window of glazed paper."
