Broken Harbour

French’s metaphors create a more relatable experience for the reader. Given the subject matter—a murder investigation into a particularly heinous type of crime—this is important. Most readers don’t have a frame of reference, and French’s use of simile facilitates connection to unimaginable concepts by highlighting similarity to other concepts. Scorcher pays close attention to Richie when they first enter the crime scene. As a new detective, he hasn’t experienced seeing something like the murder scene before. French uses simile through Scorcher’s perspective to detail the physical effects on Richie, who was “grimacing and licking his lips, like an animal that’s tasted something putrid” (22), connecting to the theme of The Essential Animal Nature of Humans. The inclusion of a vivid physical detail through simile creates a visceral experience for the reader. Similarly, after the first interview with Jenny, Scorcher notes, “[E]very breath I took was still clotted with disinfectant and blood, like the hospital air had closed around me and soaked into my pores” (177). The vivid description emphasizes the bleak and ominous setting and situation.

Similes are also related to the use of first-person