Homeric Similes, also known as Epic Similes, are elaborate comparisons between two different objects using like or as.
1: "I drove my weight on it from above and bored it home like a shipwright bores his beam with a shipwright’s drill that men below, whipping the strap back and forth, whirl and the drill keeps twisting, never stopping, so we seized our stake with it fiery tip and bored it round and round in the giant’s eye"
2: “It’s crackling roots blazed and hissed, as a blacksmith plunges a glowing ax or adze in an ice-cold bath and the metal screeches steam and its temper hardens, that’s the iron’s strength, so the eye of Cyclops sizzled round that stake.”
Answer: By describing how the tree flowers guide Paul D to escape, Morrison reinforces the idea that trees serve as the way to freedom. Nevertheless, the positive connotation of freedom again reminds Sethe and Paul D of their need to run which triggers their painful memories.
