Reading literature: structure, point of view, and figurative language (grade 9) · lesson

Figurative language

💡 A simile, metaphor, or body image compares two things so readers feel what a character feels, not just what happens.

A simile compares using "like" or "as": "The crowd moved like slow honey." A metaphor says one thing is another: "The hallway was a river of backpacks." Both ask the reader to borrow feelings from the second thing.

To read one, ask what the two things share. Slow honey is thick and hard to push through, so the crowd was packed and slow.

Writers also show feelings through the body. "My heart sank" or "my throat closed" turns an emotion into something you can almost feel. A metaphor for a person's role, like "the glue of the team," shows what that person does for others.

🧠 Let's work it out

Take "Grandpa's laugh was a thunderclap."

What do the laugh and a thunderclap share?
Both are sudden and loud, and both seem to shake the room.
So his laugh was big and startling, not polite.
Name the shared quality, then match it to the character's situation.

What do you think comes next?

simile: a comparison using like or as
metaphor: a comparison that says one thing is another

Details and symbols

💡 Authors choose details on purpose, and an object that keeps coming back often stands for a bigger idea.

A symbol is an object that stands for something larger. A ring is just metal, but it can stand for a promise. In stories, symbols are often objects that return at key moments or get special attention.

Small details can carry big meaning. A worn handle, a crumpled letter, or a stopped clock can hint at a character's feelings or at something that happened offstage.

Ask, "Why include this?" Good answers connect the detail to a character's feelings or to the story's message, not just to the plot.

🧠 Let's work it out

A story shows a birdcage three times: locked when a girl feels trapped at home, rusty as she plans to leave, and open on the day she moves away for college.

On its own, it's just a cage.
But it keeps returning at key moments.
So it likely stands for her freedom, growing step by step.
Look at what the object is tied to and what happens to it.

What do you think comes next?

symbol: an object that stands for a bigger idea

🔗 Khan Academy: Craft and structure (grade 9) · Khan Academy (free) ↗

Structure, pacing, and endings

💡 How a story is built (where a sentence is short, what comes last, what returns) shapes how readers feel.

Pacing is how fast a story feels. Long sentences full of detail slow things down. A short sentence after long ones lands hard, like a door shutting. Writers save short lines for moments that matter.

Endings matter most. An ending can reveal a secret that changes how you read earlier scenes. It can also echo words from the start, showing how a character now sees them in a new way.

When an ending repeats something from earlier, compare the two moments. What stayed the same, and what changed in how the character understands it?

🧠 Let's work it out

A story opens with a dad's note: "Back soon." The boy rolls his eyes, since his dad is always late.

At the end, after his dad works double shifts all winter, the boy finds the old note and keeps it.
The same two words now feel like a promise.

What do you think comes next?

pacing: how fast or slow a story feels

Point of view and how a story is told

💡 Who tells a story, or how it reaches us, controls what readers know and what they must figure out.

A first-person narrator says "I" and shares only their own thoughts. A third-person narrator stands outside the story and may know more than any one character.

Some stories have no narrator at all. They're told through letters, notes, texts, or diary pages. Readers must piece together events and feelings from the documents, a bit like a detective.

Ask what the form leaves out. Documents skip what happens between them, so readers fill the gaps and notice tiny details, like a date or a shift in tone.

🧠 Let's work it out

Picture a story told only through a family's text messages: "Running late." then "Dinner's cold." then "I said I'm sorry. Can we talk?"

No one says there was a fight, but the last line hints at one.
With no narrator, the reader does the work of seeing the relationship change.

What do you think comes next?

narrator: the voice telling a story
point of view: who tells the story and what they can know