European International Journal of Philological Sciences
97
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TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
97-101
DOI
OPEN ACCESS
SUBMITED
30 April 2025
ACCEPTED
28 May 2025
PUBLISHED
30 June 2025
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue 06 2025
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
The Expression of Similes
in The Works of Utkir
Hoshimov
Xaydarova Feruza
Lecturer at Jizzakh Polytechnic Institute, Uzbekistan
Abstract
: This article explores the expression of
linguocultural similes used in Otkir Hoshimov’s novel
Between Two Doors and discusses their artistic and
functional aspects.
Keywords:
Anthropocentric, linguoculturology, culture,
linguocultural similes, individual similes, fixed similes,
simile subject, simile standard, simile basis, formal
indicator.
Introduction:
The unique character, national mentality,
culture, spirituality, psychology, cognitive style,
principles of imagination, and discipline of perception of
a people are reflected in their language. At the center of
anthropocentric linguistics stands the human being, and
this direction is based on that very truth. One of the
branches of this field is linguoculturology, or linguistic
cultural studies, which studies language within the triad
“language –
culture
–
person.” [1,3] In recent years,
linguoculturology has formed as a science that studies
the issues of language and culture. The object of
linguoculturology is the interrelation and mutual
influence of language and culture as a unified whole.
The subject of linguoculturology is linguistic units that
possess symbolic, figurative, and metaphorical meaning
in culture and are generalized in human consciousness,
reflected in myths, legends, folklore, and religious
discourse, as well as in poetic and prose literary texts,
phraseologisms, metaphors, and symbols. [4,42]
Certainly, the national mentality of a people finds its
expression in its language. On this topic, Russian linguist
V. Maslova states: “The most valuable sources of
information about the culture and mentality of a people
are phraseologisms, metaphors, symbols, etc., in which
myths, legends, and customs are preserved in a kind of
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‘conserved’ form.” [1,3]
Similes, as a product of figurative thinking, possess
artistic and aesthetic value and serve to enhance the
emotional-expressive impact and expressiveness of
speech. There are two types of similes:
1.
Individual-author similes
: The willows with
budding leaves on both sides of the street seem like
girls who have just washed their hair and are drying it
in the sun. The birds chirp, busy building nests. [5,86]
For some reason, I liken the first snowfall to a person
who, after a long illness, gives up the ghost. [5,147]
Even though darkness had deepened, the bluish light
of the snow lit the courtyard surface, and the cock’s
-
comb flowers stood under the snow like orphaned
children with bowed heads. [5,160]
2.
Folk or fixed similes
: So the enemy fires one
mine and blows ten Uzbeks to bits, drops a bomb and
wraps Uncle Vasya’s intestines around his head like a
turban, and I should stand here like a docile lamb, like
a harmless dove? No! [5,203]
Similes consist of four elements: the subject of the
simile, the standard of comparison, the basis of
comparison, and the formal indicator of the simile.
Every nation has its own distinctive similes. Poets and
writers use them in ways that suit their individual
styles. When we look at the works of the writer O‘tkir
Hoshimov, we can see that fixed similes play a central
role in his creative work. For analysis, we have selected
O. Hoshimov’s novel “Between Two Doors.” In this
work, the writer effectively uses linguocultural similes
specific to the Uzbek nation. Based on the standard of
comparison, we can divide them into the following
thematic fields:
1. Similes related to household items
: Every “eye”
wore glass like a teacup. His face looked like a platter.
Upon closer look, it seemed as if two teacups had been
flipped over on both sides of a white porcelain tray.
[5,4] My brother raised his fist like a pestle and rushed
at Ochilboy, but Zuhra held onto his wrist. [5,82] He
cupped his palm like a bowl under my father’s chin and
shouted. [5,45] Scarlet tulips along the roadside
shimmered like a carpet. [5,86] The plank wagons
stood with doors wide open like gates. There were no
windows
—
just a tray-like hole in their place. [5,103] He
took off his cap that looked like a cauldron and handed
it over. [5,107] My aunt, like that ant, was tiny as a fist
but had a back like a tandoor oven. [5,110] A piece of
smoothly cut beetroot left on the ground shone white
like a platter. [5,321] A plump woman, her face puffed
like a bowl with a scarf over her head, elbowed aside
another woman in a veil. [5,348] Frowning, he placed
his fist like a pestle on the low table. [5,361] Suddenly,
his chest rose and fell heavily like a press. [5,378] By
midday, the day had heated up like a tandoor oven.
[5,403] There’s a boy named Qo‘zivoy. He’s as small as a
fist but has a head like a clay jar. [5,459] A punch to the
stomach made him double over like a lung. [5,461]
Bending over, he picked up a stone like a teapot. [5,478]
As soon as I entered the narrow alley with a thread-like
stream of dirty water running through it, I saw Klara-opa
bursting out of our door. [5,567]
2. Similes related to food and dishes
: The teahouse
owner's face was pockmarked. People joke about him
—
some say it’s like a burnt pancake, others like a stabbed
flatbread. [5,17] They still look alike: eyebrows and eyes
like feathers, a face like a round bread... Only Fotima-
kelin has gained weight. Zuhra-kelin, on the other hand,
is like a strip. [5,71] I've never seen such a beautiful girl
in my life! Eyebrows drawn like with a pen, dark,
smoldering eyes, milk-white skin, a small mole on her
thin chin, a tiny mouth like a thimble
—
everything looks
like it was drawn deliberately. [5,91] Like slicing through
butter, he swung the hoe gently. [5,133]
3. Similes related to objects
: The earth still rocked like
a cradle, the house kept shifting back and forth,
whitewash fell from the ceiling, everything creaked.
[5,601] Amazing how human memory is like a storage
room with its door shut. [5,13] My left arm was stiffened
and tied like a stick. [5,34] Although
the shed’s door was
as narrow as a hole, everyone came in
—
there was no
dog. [5,79] "Robi! Your brother can barely swallow even
a spoonful of water!"
—
she said as she rolled the food
into balls like dumplings and stuffed it into his mouth.
[5,100] She began picking rice again with her thin,
trembling fingers like threads. [5,11] She swung her
stiffened left arm again, hanging like a stick. [5,114]
With one hand she pinched her nose, with the other she
punched Parcha-
xola’s dome
-like shoulder. [5,120] Her
tattered headscarf and bell-shaped shoulders were
covered in snow. [5,195] Parcha-opa, occupying a
bench-sized corner of the cart, grumbled loudly. [5,125]
I flew like a bullet into the dark house and threw myself
on the ground. [5,131] Her hands like pitchers began to
tremble. [5,137] Seeing her coin-like footprints in the
snow, my heart skipped a beat. [5,150] When I saw her
bulging eyes from fear, her flour-white face, I instantly
understood everything. [5,405] Her eyes, always
burning like fire, were now sunk like hollows, her nose
thinned, her mustache drooped… [5,409] Only now I
understood why recently she had been commuting to
Tashkent like a cloth dealer’s bundle. [5,426] As soon as
the lesson ended, Abduvali clung to me like glue. [5,443]
4. Similes related to animals and their div parts
:
Tabib bobo’s wife is Lazakat xola. Her nose looks like a
chicken’s beak. [5,34] Though my old man's stature was
small, his heart was like a horse’s head. [5,38] "O’v!" –
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he said, stretching out his neck like a rooster. [5,48]
"Who are you! Aren’t you ashamed, making a girl cry
like a young camel!" [5,49]
"Ordona! Who gave an atlas dress to a woman as big
as a cow!" [5,72]
I never knew my docile brother Kimsan, as gentle as a
lamb, could get so angry! [5,82] What use is such a bull-
like guy among all these women? [5,85]
If everyone went to war and Kimsantosh sat hunched
like a frog, would that be right? [5,96] When we
crossed the Alvasti Bridge and I looked at the water
hissing like a snake in the dark ravine, I was overcome
with dread. [5,102] He had gone pale, opening his
mouth like a fish, his expression as pitiful as a child
afraid of being scolded after doing something wrong.
[5,138] The brothers, they say, were in the same tank,
crushing fascists like toads! [5,156] Why are you
staring like a donkey the mullah is riding? Get up!
[5,158] My sister-in-
law Ra’no, the snow
-covered
fields, the icy potatoes stinging like scorpions when
you hold them
—
all flash before my eyes in a blur; my
head spins... [5,159] On the snowy field, tanks crawling
like locusts move as if they’re about to storm the
trench where you’re standing. [5,198] I wish I could
see, just once, a fascist forced to bite the dust, hear
one cry out rolling in the snow, and watch, like the
sheep my father slaughtered under the apple tree,
gasping its last breath. I would stand over it, smiling,
saying, “Know this—I killed you.” [5,202] No matter
what happens, I want to escape this pitiful state, like a
crow pecking once and looking around anxiously a
thousand times. [5,237] Only a hawk-fast, lion-brave
man can manage such a task. [5,263] I wish he were
here now
—I’d whip him till he howled like a dog.
[5,297] A goal is like a wild horse. [5,301] A second line
stood out on Parcha’s face like a rope. She didn’t run
this time either. But she grabbed the whip writhing like
a snake with a firm grip. [5,322] Olimjon slept curled
up like a cat, snoring softly, his skullcap fallen from his
head and his forehead damp with sweat. Nearby, a
dented bucket lay overturned. [5,328]
If my son had lived, it wouldn’t be surprising if Zo‘ra
had given birth to a ram-like boy. [5,340] He scrambled
up the tree, clinging like a monkey to its branch. [5,381]
Over time, I truly came to believe that my harmless
father, like a dove, was afraid of my mother. [5,544]
Today, I fell to the ground shattered, like a pigeon shot
by a bullet. [5,549]
5. Similes related to flowers
: So many flower-like
young widows, whose husbands died in the war,
continue to live patiently. [5,39] Robiya
—
your
Robiya
—
is withering before my eyes like a dried
flower. [5,40] Who knows, maybe he too has already
gone to war, leaving behind his flower-like wife in
anguish... [5,97] “Don’t kick up dust before the herd,
who told you to bite your bud-
like wife and start a fight,”
they said. “Even your cousin got flustered and came
back. When the time comes, they’ll find you
themselves.” [5,99] “So what if he’s a flower
-like young
man,” came my mother’s voice. “They want to enjoy a
wedding too!” [5,130] His boots were covered in mu
d,
his sparse beard had grown like thorns, his hair stuck out
and curved over his ears, and though he was in uniform,
there were no epaulettes on his shoulders. [5,334]
Grabbing the juniper’s thorn
-like stiff needles, a saving
thought suddenly flashed through my mind. [5,550]
6. Similes related to human beings and their div
parts
: Though the courtyard was wide, there wasn’t a
palm-sized empty space. [5,51] I saw Parcha-opa, who
could easily carry two men on each shoulder, her thick
lips like a sliced liver growing a mustache, sitting by the
wall with her legs stretched like sticks and a platter of
pilaf on her lap, devouring it. [5,100] Earlier, too, the
moon was high. Why is he so ugly? Look at him grinning
like a burnt skull! As if mocking me. [5,297] In the sky,
toward the west, the moon stood yellowish among the
haze, like the eye of a blind man
—
it irritated rather than
illuminated. [5,372] There’s a boy named Qo‘zivoy. He’s
as small as a fist, but his head is like a clay jar. [5,459]
7. Similes related to fruits and vegetables
: A stranger
with a sickly complexion and a wart behind his ear like a
cherry pit came and rummaged through my father's
books and notebooks. [5,59] He brought out a bucket
with a smear of fat on the rim like a pit. [5,75] Maybe
because she stood on her hind legs, her udder stuck out
stiffly like cucumbers. [5,79] When the three of us came
out into the yard blushing like peaches, darkness had
thickened, the moon hadn’t yet risen, but the sky held a
soft, faint light seen only on spring evenings. [5,80]
Grandfather scolded with a fist like an apple. [5,96] If I
find the man who stuffed a potato the size of a pit into
his pocket, I’ll bring him before the tribunal. [5,134] The
last bucket of potatoes spilled over and couldn’t fit into
the overloaded basket, which was piled like a haystack.
[5,136] Ra’nokhon had clung to Shomurod like a pit to
pulp and latched onto his arm at the station. [5,148] Our
tank emerged from the forest clearing, stopped
sideways, fired a shot from its cannon
—
and the vehicle
shattered, Germans flying into the snow like scattered
millet. [5,204] He saw a darkened spot on the child’s
temple, the size of a pea. [5,246] Like flies swarming
around a bruised apple, mosquitoes buzzed around the
light bulb. [5,451] Muzaffar turned red like a turnip...
[5,572] So strange
—
was that a dragonfly? It has a life as
fragile as a fly’s, yet it shows no fear. If it dips just an
inch lower, it’s doomed: its wings, as thin as onion skin,
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would get wet, and the enraged waves would snatch it
into their fury, spinning it away. [5,577]
8. Similes related to clothing
: If you ask me, let alone
the chairmanship, even a thousand major operations
are like the boot on your foot. [5,66]
In the western horizon, the crescent moon glimmered
delicately like a golden eyebrow. [5,88] Kholposh xola
let out one last sigh, then her face turned pale as
muslin, and her head dropped limply to her side.
[5,341]
If a corpse comes out of your house like a slipper, it
drags along expenses as heavy as a mountain. [5,426]
9. Similes related to nature and natural phenomena
:
My brother Kimsan was a man like a mountain. He was
equal to two of my grandfathers. [5,69] When we
reached the shade of the budding willow, Kimsan
stopped abruptly. Lost in thought, I ran right into his
mountain-like shoulder. [5,88]
I stood still for a moment, and after my eyes adjusted
to the darkness, I spotted piles of onions like
mountains in one corner of the warehouse and
cabbages in another. [5,170] The elder was panting
with his mouth agape, then collapsed to the ground
like a felled tree. [5,181] The guard looked over a
mountain of sugar beets piled like hills, each one as big
as a mound, and stroked his thin mustache with his
whip-wielding hand. [5,320] Zuhra-kelin vanished
without a trace. Like a stone dropped into a well
—
no
news of whether she was dead or alive. [5,329]
He descended upon Zuhra-kelin like a whirlwind.
[5,337]
I felt my whole div burning like fire, but I couldn’t rise
from my place. [5,344]
Light tore through the fog, blazing like fire from a
samovar’s spout, surging swiftly forward. [5,372]
Because my aunt was hard of hearing, maybe she
didn’t catch my words well. She stared at me, blinking
her dull eyes like a stone in water. [5,503] The
gulsapsars shimmered like violet
flames. [5,503] I’ve
heard him speak with a rumble like thunder. [5,580]
10. Similes related to tools and utensils
: I’ve never
seen such a beautiful girl in my life! Eyebrows drawn
like with a pencil, smoldering jet-black eyes, skin as
white as milk, a tiny mole on her slender chin, a mouth
like a thimble
—
all of it looks like it was deliberately
painted. [5,91] The elder slapped his knee with a palm
as wide as a shovel and laughed heartily. [5,93]
11. Similes related to individuals and their activities
:
Abduvali’s mother stepped forward, puffed up like a
wrestler entering the ring. [5,118] My brother Kimsan,
hanging from the throat by one foot like a tightrope
walker, turned his face toward us. [5,95] Parcha-opa,
embarrassed like a newlywed bride, fled to the corner
of the warehouse, waddling. [5,175] And how sweetly
he smacked his lips in his sleep, like a baby full of fat!
[5,263] Thin, layered clouds stood frozen in the air. Like
sisters-in-law tr
ying in vain to cover the bride’s head
with a scarf, they pointlessly tried to block the moon’s
face. [5,528] I’m supposed to eat a handful of salt and
stand there smiling like someone who’s tasted sugar.
Why? [5,126]
In the works of O‘tkir Hoshimov, we ob
serve the use of
distinctly Uzbek similes. For example, the simile element
“tandir” is explained by N. Mahmudov and D.
Khudoyberganova in the “Explanatory Dictionary of
Uzbek Similes” as “to burn, to heat up –
mainly referring
to air temperature” [1,204]: “By noon, the day had
heated up like a tandir.” [5,403] However, in Hoshimov’s
texts, it can also be seen expressing meanings such as
“large, vast”: “My aunt, like that ant, was tiny as a fist,
but had a back like a tandir.” [5,110] The tandir is a clay
oven used for baking bread, somsa, kebabs, and other
foods [2,662] and has held significant importance in the
daily life of the Uzbek people since ancient times. The
simile element “kulcha” carries the meaning “perfectly
round, small” [1,115] and is commonly
used to describe
a person’s round, small, beautiful face or the full moon:
“Even now, the two still look alike: eyebrows and eyes
like feathers, a face like a kulcha... Only Fotima-kelin has
gained weight. Zuhra-kelin, on the other hand, is like a
ribbon.
” [5,71] The simile “as harmless as a dove” is
rarely encountered in other languages. The element
“like a dove” holds a national
-cultural connotation in
which the attribute of harmlessness is emphasized as a
specifically Uzbek trait. [1,11] The simile “danakdek”
(like a seed/pit) typically conveys the meaning of
smallness, minuteness [1,65]: “I’ll bring to the tribunal
the person who stuffed a potato the size of a pit into his
pocket.” [5,134] Yet, in Hoshimov’s work, it also
expresses the meaning of abnorm
ally large (e.g., “A
stranger with a sickly complexion and a wart behind his
ear like a danak came and rummaged through my
father’s books.” [5,59]), and closeness, attachment,
inseparability (e.g., “Ra’nokhon clung to Shomurod like
a danak stuck inside a fruit, and at the station she
wrapped herself tightly around his arm.” [5,148]). A
yalakat danak (double-pit) refers to a fruit pit with two
kernels fused together inside. The author uses this
individualized simile to vividly depict Ra’nokhon’s
unwillingness to send her husband to war or to be
separated from him.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Hoshimov’s literary works reveal
numerous linguocultural similes that reflect the Uzbek
mentality, culture, and way of life. In some cases, these
similes describe the beauty of women (like a flower, like
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a bud), and in others, they praise the strength and
power of men (like a mountain). Similes do not arise
spontaneously
—
they are based on daily life, familiar
and observable things. One never likens something to
what they have never seen or known. That is why many
similes are absent in other languages. Every nation has
its own geographic setting and unique way of life, and
similes emerge as a result of that lived experience.
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