The Efficiency of Simile
Similes are almost beyond argument the most efficient literary devices for creating an image in the mind of the read to which they can relate when describing something which may be more difficult. Clarke effectively exploits this power in the original short story upon which he later based a novel of the same, “The Hammer of God.”
“It looked harmless enough: just another small asteroid, shaped so exactly like a peanut that the resemblance was almost comical.”
Metaphorical Humanity
Within the genre of science fiction, one of the most necessary tools for the writers are those devices capable of lending non-human entities certain relatable human characteristics. Certainly, this applies to alien life forms, but as Clarke shows in this example from “The Star” it is also sometimes necessary to apply even to family heavenly bodies.
“And sinking into the sea, still warm and friendly and life-giving, is the sun that will soon turn traitor and obliterate all this innocent happiness.
Extending the Metaphor
The following descriptive prose from “The Secret” is an example of extending a metaphor. Notice how Clarke first enlivens the dialogue which precedes this line through the use of metaphor to describe the speaker’s emotional tone and then proceeds to intensify that metaphor into imaginative imagery transfers the metaphor to the response of the listener.
“He began to speak with such icy calm that his words sank like freezing raindrops into Cooper's mind.”
Extending the Metaphor
Similes and metaphors also prove useful within the science fiction genre for the purpose of exposition. Because the genre relies more heavily on supplying unknown information which is not as easily intuited or taken for granted as mainstream fiction, the pace of science fiction is at greater risk of collapsing under the weight of this necessity to provide such expository information. Clarke subtly confronts this pitfall in “A Walk in the Dark” by situating the lonely, isolated condition of his protagonist within the framework of metaphor and simile:
”Here at this outpost of the Universe the sky held perhaps a hundred faintly gleaming points of light, as useless as the five ridiculous moons on which no one had ever bothered to land.”
Opening Lines
Opening lines are a great place to use metaphor as a means for describing something important while also creating a sense of mystery. This can be especially true in genres of adventure and action such as science fiction. “The Wind from the Sun” opens with a simple image packed metaphor that creates a sense of imagery without directly describing it:
“The enormous disc of sail strained at its rigging, already filled with the wind that blew between the worlds.”
