the grocery store asked me where I was from, and I said,
“Right here in Greenfield.”
“No, where are you from from, originally?” she asked.
“Right here in Greenfield. Since I was born,” I told her.
“Are you sure? Because you look just like a Japanese girl
I knew once,” she said. I said I was sure and then I had
to explain the whole Korean-German thing to her, even
though she was a total stranger. It’s not fair that people
I don’t know can ask me questions about my race and
heritage, but it’s not polite for me to ask them, “So why do
your ears stick out like jug handles?”
Both sides of my family love me a lot, and we all
get along. But I am not the same as either group of
my relatives. My German cousins don’t know about
playing yut or making special dumplings for the lunar
new year, but I do. And my Korean cousins don’t know
about singing “O Tannenbaum” and “Stille Nacht” at
Christmastime, but I do. I go through life with two worlds
in me, and no one in my family—not even Mom and
Dad—knows what that’s like.
So anyway, I can’t think of a metaphor for me. Mutt,
half-breed ... the names rattle around in my head like a
handful of broken glass. Mom suggested a fairy princess,
because she said I have magic to cross in and out of
fairyland, and Dad suggested a mermaid, who can live on
In "Amy's Metaphor", what simile does Amy use in the last paragraph on page 5? What does this simile mean?
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In the text you've provided, Amy employs the simile "names rattle around in my head like a handful of broken glass." A simile is a figure of speech that draws a comparison between two different things using the words "like" or "as." In this simile, Amy compares the harsh and uncomfortable names ("Mutt," "half-breed") that she thinks of in relation to her mixed heritage to the sound and feel of broken glass rattling around, which is jarring, unpleasant, and potentially hurtful.
The meaning of this simile is to convey the inner turmoil and pain she feels when confronted with these pejorative terms. Broken glass suggests something sharp and damaging, which reflects the emotional impact these terms have on her; they cause discomfort and evoke a sense of being broken or incomplete. The noise of rattling glass is chaotic and unsettling, which parallels her distressed thoughts when trying to reconcile her complex identity.
It's important to note that in providing this response, we can only analyze the excerpt you shared. If "Amy's Metaphor" is part of a larger text and there are other metaphors or similes used by Amy, the analysis might differ based on their inclusion and context.