I had often watched a large dog of ours eating his food; and I now noticed a decided similarity between the dog’s way of eating, and the man’s. The man took strong sharp sudden bites, just like the dog. He swallowed, or rather snapped up, every mouthful, too soon and too fast; and he looked sideways here and there while he ate, as if he thought there was danger in every direction…he was very like the dog.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 3. When Pip brings food and drink to the convict hiding in the marshes Abel Magwitch, he compares him to a ravenous dog. After his escape from the prison ship, the fugitive Magwitch reverts to an animal-like state as he bites and snaps at the food “like a dog.” This animal simile portrays Magwitch as an uncouth, uncivilized and somewhat dangerous creature.