“In many ways he was like America itself, big and strong, full of good intentions, a roll of fat jiggling at his belly, slow of foot but always plodding along, always there when you needed him, a believer in the virtues of simplicity and directness and hard labor. Like his country, too, Dobbins was drawn toward sentimentality.”
-The Things They Carried, p 111
This passage contains two types of figurative language combined to create an extended comparison between Henry Dobbins and America. First, O’Brien employs a simile (in orange) to set the initial comparison. He follows this with an extended personification of America that also serves to describe Dobbins. What is interesting is the difference between the written style and the implied style of this passage. In the way it is written, the entire description pertains to Henry Dobbins. Yet when read, it is evident that the description is primarily meant to depict America. While the entire analogy is created by the simile, it is the personification that carries the full power of the comparison. In describing Dobbins, O’Brien indirectly reflects upon American ideology.
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