My Favorite Chaperone

Verisimilitude in fiction refers to the extent to which a story appears believable or true to life. Okimoto uses elements of realism to make her short story plausible and her characters believable. To do this, she references real places like Chicago and historical events like the Hungarian Revolution. She also includes sensory details like “across the street, the bare branches of the trees were black against the cement gray sky. The rain came down in a steady drizzle” (10). Mr. Alazova’s dialogue “EDEE SUDA!” (16) is in Russian to deepen his characterization as a Kazakh immigrant. Okimoto also reveals details about their pasts the Alazovas being teachers, and she includes details specific to the immigrant experience like Maya translating for her parents and answering the phone because her English is better. Even the names of background characters—often presented in full—add texture and a sense of realism to the story by rounding out the story’s world.

“My Favorite Chaperone” includes many similes. In particular, Maya uses similes to describe her emotional state. When she is fearful, she uses distancing similes that compare herself to inanimate objects: “Like a person made from wood, a puppet” (7); “But now my mind was filled with nothing […] like a dry riverbed where there is only cracked, baked earth and nothing lives” (7); “I closed the front door and leaned against […] like a prisoner about to be shot” (17); “Like a robot, I gathered my books” (6). Each of these similes adds a different twist to Maya’s anxiety. She compares herself to a robot or puppet when following orders, showing the way she has been raised to be a “good girl.” When she feels emotionally drained, she compares herself to a dry, lifeless river. Fearing her parents’ punishment, she uses a stark image of a prisoner awaiting execution. This last simile also reflects some cultural context, evoking images of political persecution in the former Soviet Union.