Rhetorical devices

Similes

In his interview “Adam”, Michael Cohen uses similes and comparisons to help readers understand Adam better. For example, at the beginning, he compares Adam with a fictional character from an American sitcom that was popular in the 1960s: “Adam’s childhood was a model of stability, what Wally Cleaver’s life might have been like if he had been an only child.” (p. 136, ll. 6-7). The comparison helps Cohen suggest that Adam grew up in the typical, suburban, middle-class American family. 

A simile then helps Cohen convey Adam’s passionate speech as he talks about social issues in America: “I ask him to tell me his views about the national situation, and dire prognoses rush through his lips like water bursting through a crack in Hoover Dam”. (p. 138, ll. 29- 31). The simile highlights Adam’s emotional invest...