"'I can wait. It's like the sour apples....One time when I was really little, I climbed a tree and ate those sour, green apples. My stomach swelled and became hard as a drum, it hurt a lot. Mother said that if I'd just waited for the apples to ripen, I wouldn't have become sick. So now, whenever I really want something, I try to remember what she said about the apples.'"
(p 340)
When Sohrab explains why he can wait to be adopted into Amir's family and taken to America, he is employing the use of a simile. The simile allows him to make both Amir and the reader understand why he can wait because of his anecdote. The comparison he makes is explicitly stated when he uses the word like. In comparing the two things (sour apples and why he can wait), we learn a little more about the characterization of Sohrab as well. It explains his personality and lets the reader know that he is intelligent for his age. This scene is important to the rest of the novel because it is one of the last moments where Sohrab is truly hopeful and happy. The simile allows him to recall a moment from his childhood and open himself up to Amir just a little bit more. In general, similes allow for the reader to have a greater understanding of a concept.
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