Figurative Language in Natalie Babbitt's Tuck Everlasting
For each expression, discuss and identify the form of figurative language used: personification, metaphor or simile.
What images are evoked in your mind? Do the words appeal to your senses, your prior knowledge, or your personal
experiences? What do they compel you to think about or recall? What is the literal meaning being conveyed? The
numbers in the parenthesis correlate with the book’s pages.
1. The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like
the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. (3)
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2. These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they
are sure to be sorry for after. (3)
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3. The wood was at the center, the hub of the wheel. (4)
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4. The house was so proud of itself that you wanted to make a lot of noise as you passed, and
maybe even throw a rock or two. (6)
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5. …that would have been a disaster so immense that this weary old earth, owned or not to its
fiery core, would have trembled on its axis like a beetle on a pin. (8)
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6. Then, last of all, she pulled down over her ears a blue straw hat with a drooping, exhausted
brim. (11)
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7. "…I want some. I'm about dry as dust." (29)
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8. She had always pictured a troupe of burly men with long black moustaches who would
tumble her into a blanket and bear her off like a sack of potatoes while she pleaded for
mercy. (31)
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9. Jesse sang funny old songs in a loud voice and swung like a monkey from the branches of
trees, showing off shamelessly for Winnie, calling to her, "Hey, Winnie Foster, watch me!"
and "Look what I can do!" (44)
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10. The sweet earth opened out its wide four corners to her like the petals of a flower ready to be
picked, and it shimmered with light and possibility till she was dizzy with it. (45)
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11. He looked solid like an oar, whereas Jesse-well, she decided, Jesse was like water: thin and
quick. (84)
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12. Two days before, they would have insisted that she stay indoors, but now, this morning, they
were careful with her, a little gingerly, as if she were an egg. (111)
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13. …and they ran together, lightly, down the road, past other sleeping cottages, into the
dim and empty center of the village. The big glass windows here were lidded eyes that didn't
care-that barely gave them back reflections. (122)
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14. A dragonfly, a brilliant blue jewel, darted up and paused over the lily pads, then
swung up and away. (85)
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Wow. So you’re probably wondering why I have so many posts starting with the same two
words. Well, here’s the reason: THERE’S SO MUCH TO DISCUSS! Tuck Everlasting is an
amazing book. Natalie Babbitt used many different ways to make her writing extremely
beautiful, so it paints a picture in your head. We’ve already talked about similes, metaphors and
hyperboles, but another thing that she uses very commonly is personification. Personification is
giving an object the abilities and traits of a human. Here are 4 examples of personification I’ve
found in Tuck Everlasting:
Pg. 60 - ‘The rowboad slipped from the bank then, silently, and glided out, tall water grasses
whispering away from its sides, releasing it.’
This is an example of personification because water grasses can’t whisper and release.
Pg. 62 - ‘The rowboad had drifted at last to the end of the pond, but now its bow bumped into the
rotting branches of a fallen tree that thrust thick fingers into the water.’
This is an example of personification because a fallen tree can not thrust it’s thick fingers into
the water.
Pg. 63 - ‘And, farther down, Winnie could see that it hurried into a curve, around a leaning
willow, and disappeared.’
This is an example of personification because the water cannot hurry.
Pg. 86 - ‘The sky was blue and hard now, the last of the mist dissolved, and the sun, stepping
higher above the trees, was hot onWinnie’s back.’
This is an example of personification because the sun cannot step.
I hope you liked this and will read Tuck Everlasting in the future! (By the way, I’ve already read
it in 4th grade)
is another. The sun is exactly like a sliding egg yolk. They will write this definition in their notebooks.
I will start out by talking about the idea of a secret and how that secret affects Winnie's life. While
looking at the text, I will ask them, “On pg. 6, the story tells us, ‘the gate said Move on.' Did the gate
really say that?” I will give another example, on page 6, “Was the house proud of itself?” “On page 12,
it says, ‘The air fairly hummer with their daybreak activites…' Can air hum? What is going on here?
Remember ‘Rikki- Tikki- Tavi', where animals could talk? Is that what is going on with the house or the
gate? Is something being compared here?” Hopefully, the class will identify that these items doing
things that people do. I will then tell them that this is called personification and it is when animals and
things are given human qualities. The air didn't hum, but it made a sound that is comparable to a
person humming. I will have them write the definition in their notebooks and on the graphic organizer
that I will give them
The class has already learned what a simile is, so they are familiar with comparisons in literature. After
reading last night, I will ask them if they found any forms of comparisons in their homework. They may
mistakenly identify some metaphors as similes. If so, I will inform them that this is a different form of
comparison that we will be learning about today. I will write the following quotes on the overhead:
“The sky was a ragged blaze of red and pink and orange…” “The sun was dropping fast now, a soft red
sliding egg yolk…” pg 32. “But this rowboat now, it's stuck. If we didn't move it ourself, it would stay
here forever, trying to get loose, but stuck. That's what us Tuck's are, Winnie.” pg 33. I will then ask
the class, “What is the author doing in these passages? Are these comparisons? What makes them
different from the similes we looked at yesterday?” Hopefully, they will identify that they do not use
the words like or as. I will then inform them that these are called metaphors and that they are stronger
forms of comparison. They do not claim something is similar to another; they claim that the one thing
The class has been reading Tuck for a week. They learned that literary techniques are things
authors use to make the text more interesting and to add creativity to writing. To start off the
class, I will ask them about the reading so far. Specifically, I will point out the following
passages. Page 26: “An ancient green-plush sofa lolled alone in the center like yet another
mossy fallen log…” and, “a bag of cotton batting with wisps of its contents, like snow, drifting
into the cracks and corners…” I will also add in the familiar, “snug as a bug in a rug.” “So
what is going on here? What are these sentences telling us? How is the sofa like a fallen log?”
After some discussion, I will tell them that this is called simile and that it is a literary technique.
“The author makes a comparison using the words like or as.” Next, I will hand out a graphic
organizer and ask the students to fill in the definition in the center of the sheet.