Author's Craft Moves - Simile

In the book Taking Sides, Lincoln and his mom, who are Hispanic, have moved from the Mission District in San Francisco to a suburb on the Peninsula. Lincoln is having difficulty adjusting to his new life and his new school, where there are very few Hispanic students. Lincoln was on the basketball team at his old school, Franklin, and is on the basketball team at his new school, Columbus. Lincoln's issues about his identity, moving to the suburbs, and changing schools come to a head when the two basketball teams are scheduled to play each other in a league game.

Gary Soto makes effective use of the author's craft of simile in Taking Sides. A simile is a figure of speech that uses like or as to compare two dissimilar things. Here are some examples from the text.

Lincoln was tired and sore from basketball practice and decided to take a bath. "While he rested in the water, steam rising like smoke from incense, he read the sports section of the newspaper." Lincoln thought about his old school, Franklin, and his new school, Columbus. "Franklin was a poor school, grim and sad because the kids were poor--but scrappy, like the Warriors. The Lakers were like his new school, rich and full of the right moves" (p. 30).

Lincoln was daydreaming in algebra class about his old girlfriend, Vicky. When his teacher called on him, "Vicky's image burst like a soap bubble" (p. 38).

After eating lunch, Lincoln went to look for a girl he liked named Monica. "His heart thumped like a basketball bouncing down the stairs" (p. 40).

One Saturday, Lincoln took the bus from the Peninsula to San Francisco, where he and his best friend, Tony, went to a thrift shop. Tony insisted that he had seen Lincoln's stolen television set in the shop. When they arrived at the thrift shop, Tony smiled. Tony's teeth "were as large as guitar picks" and "glowed white against his brown face." The thrift shop owner was an old man. "His teeth were stained and broken like jagged pieces of pottery" (pp. 56-57). Lincoln had an argument with Tony about whether or not to confront the old man about the television set. That night, Lincoln had a bad dream about a bear, who had "teeth yellow as candle flames" (p. 66). After waking from the dream, Lincoln took his dog, Flaco, for a walk on his street, "which was quiet and empty as an abandoned bird's nest" (p. 66).

Lincoln shot some hoops in a school yard with Monica. She "jumped, lean as a deer, and shot" (p. 76). While Lincoln and Monica shot hoops together, Monica jumped and caught her head under Lincoln's chin, causing him to fall and injure his knee. The next morning, "The knee was large and purple and hard as a nut" (p. 88). That night, when Lincoln returned home from school, his mom made dinner and Lincoln and his mom's boyfriend "feasted like starved warriors" (p. 108).

On the day of the big game between Franklin and Columbus, Lincoln ate lunch alone, outdoors. "He could hear the pep band in the cafeteria and imagined the cheerleaders jumping about like the sparrows he watched on the dead lawn" (p. 112).

When Lincoln arrived at the gym for the big game, "The pep band was setting up, the tuba honking like a fat goose" (p. 121). Lincoln scanned the crowd and saw his old girlfriend, Vicky. "She looked good, as usual, and Lincoln's heart leaped like a fish under his Columbus sweats. But it sank when he saw the dude sitting next to her--close" (p. 125).

These examples show how Gary Soto has used the author's craft of simile to create clearer, more vivid images in the book Taking Sides.