Running like Driven Things (Simile)
“The roebuck, which usually kept in the sheltered hollows during a storm-wind, were running like driven things tonight, and there was movement and unrest among the creatures that were wont to sleep through the dark hours.” (392)
Saki frequently personifies nature in this story. Using simile here, he makes it seem as though the deer are being driven or controlled in an unusual fashion. The simile gives nature agency and character, and foreshadows ways in which it later interferes with human intentions.
Quarreled like Devils (Simile) and Breath of Wind (Metaphor)
“We have quarreled like devils all our lives over this stupid strip of forest, where the trees can’t even stand upright in a breath of wind.” (394)
Though “quarreled like devils” is a simile present at the beginning of the sentence, the metaphor at the end of the sentence, “breath of wind,” is more significant. Again, Saki uses metaphor to give nature a life-like and conscious power. Nature is not merely the backdrop of the two men’s feud, it is itself a character; it breathes, it acts, it overpowers. Imbued with agency, nature is able to take control in the story, though the men view it merely as the object of their longstanding feud.
