Simile

Okay, so let me get this straight. In the chapter before this, O'Brien was talking about the man he killed and now the war is over? Just like that? There's no stories in between there? That seems random to me. I don't really like how he keeps skipping around all over the place because it makes the story harder to follow sometimes. I'm not sure what the significance of this chapter was, but the only character it concentrated on was Norman Bowker. To be honest, he wasn't doing anything particularly interesting either. All he did for the majority of the chapter was drive on the same 7 mile stretch of road for hours on end. What this chapter sort of showed me was how many of the soldiers probably didn't know what to do with their lives once they were back home. Lots of time had passed by while they were away, and everyone else had moved on without them. This became clear when Norman mentioned a girl he had dated back in high school who was now married. Although he kept trying to clear his mind of her, the idea of her being married to someone else seemed to really bother him.
The literary term that caught my attention in this chapter was a simile. Norman pulled into a drive-in restaurant to eat dinner and his description of the waitress was unusual.
"Her eyes were as fluffy and airy-light as cotton candy." (page 145)
It sounded like a compliment on his part, but I couldn't quite figure out what kind of eyes would remind me of cotton candy. Was he referring to the color? Perhaps they were a light blue or something of the sort. How can eyes be fluffy? I thought that maybe he could have perceived her eyes as fluffy if she was a bubbly girl but her behavior made it sound like she wasn't the friendliest.
"The young carhop turned slowly, as if puzzled, then said something to the boys in the Firebird and moved reluctantly toward him... 'You blind?' she said. She put out her hand and tapped an intercom attached to a steel post. 'Punch the button and place your order. All I do is carry the dumb trays.'" (page 145)
Like I said, she didn't seem like a character brimming with optimism and enthusiasm for her job which was why the simile threw me off.

Simile

This was one of the first few chapters that I found humorous and interesting to read. Jake, Bill, Brett, Mike, and Robert have all finally met up again. When they went to see the bulls unloaded, I tried to pay even closer attention because I have never read anything about that before. I found the process to be pretty interesting for the most part. Is that still how they unload them today? I realized while reading this that I never took the time to think about how bulls were transported to where the fights take place. It must be incredibly difficult to try and force a bull to go inside a trailer...I have a feeling that wouldn't be the most successful task in the entire world. On another note, what I found humorous was when Mike criticized Robert for followingBrett around. He used a simile to compare Robert with a steer. It was definitely effective in my opinion because I could tell that he was becoming more obvious in his attachment to her. His infatuation with Brett is getting a little out of hand.
"Tell me, Robert. Why do you follow Brett around like a poor bloody steer? Don't you know you're not wanted? I know when I'm not wanted. Why don't you know when you're not wanted? You came down to San Sebastian where you weren't wanted, and followed Brett around like a bloddy steer." (page 146)
Although Mike was harsh, I have to admit there was truth to his criticism.