Question

Read the following excerpt from the poem "The Fish" by Elizabeth Bishop:

I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
half out of water, with my hook
fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wallpaper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:
Which best describes the effect of simile on the overall meaning in this excerpt?
A. It explains that the fish is like a pattern to illustrate just how old it appears to the speaker.
B. It describes the fish as battered and homely to build on the theme of disillusionment.
C. It compares the fish's skin to wallpaper to support the image of a shabby but admirable fish.
D. It makes the fish take on the qualities of a grandparent to show how much the speaker respects it.

Answer 1

C. It compares the fish's skin to wallpaper to support the image of a shabby but admirable fish.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

A simile is a figure of speech that is used to explicitly compare two elements of a different kind. Within this excerpt, the explicit comparison is:

his brown skin hung in strips

like ancient wallpaper,

and its pattern of darker brown

was like wallpaper:

Therefore, the statement that best describes the effect of simile on the overall meaning in this excerpt is C. It compares the fish's skin to wallpaper to support the image of a shabby but admirable fish because it conveys the image of a ragged, damaged but tremendous fish.