“[Memory] is an abstract painting--it does not present things as they are, but rather as they feel” (paragraph 1). “Poverty was the cage in which we were all trapped, and our hatred of it was still the vague, undirected restlessness of the zoo-bred flamingo who knows that nature created him to fly free” (paragraph 4).

“But old fears have a way of clinging like cobwebs, and so when we sighted the tumbledown shack, we had to stop to reinforce our nerves” (paragraph 19).

“The world had lost its boundary lines...Everything was suddenly out of tune, like a broken accordion. Where did I fit into this crazy picture?” (paragraph 45).

“The half-dawn light was more eerie than complete darkness, and in it the old house was like the ruin that my world had become--foul and crumbling, a grotesque caricature” (paragraph 55).

* I need to know what type of figurative language each one of these are and a little examples of how the figurative language is used in context.

“Memory is an abstract painting--it does not present things as they are, but rather as they feel”

Metaphor: It compares a memory to the likes of an abstract painting.

“Poverty was the cage in which we were all trapped, and our hatred of it was still the vague, undirected restlessness of the zoo-bred flamingo who knows that nature created him to fly free”

Metaphor: They used the example of a captivity-bred flamingo to compare to the feeling of being trapped, in which poverty may give you. And as for the second part of this passage, the author explains how although the flamingo, as like a penguin, was never meant to fly, it feels as though he is meant to do so, just as people in poverty are given the feeling that they are being held back from the money they could be making or the things they could be doing

“The half-dawn light was more eerie than complete darkness, and in it the old house was like the ruin that my world had become--foul and crumbling, a grotesque caricature”

Imagery: (Since I'm in 6th grade I don't really understand how imagery is figurative language because as far as I know it isn't but everyone keeps telling me that's the answer to this question when I answer elsewhere so here goes) Imagery is where an author uses words to vividly describe a moment in literal work. As you read the passage, you can tell it is fairly descriptive and allows you to imagine it clearly in your head. It explained the eeriness of the almost dawn light and the old house and it's comparison to their life.

*these next one I'm a bit unsure of, so it will be best to check with someone of more experience

“But old fears have a way of clinging like cobwebs, and so when we sighted the tumbledown shack, we had to stop to reinforce our nerves”

Simile: They compare old fears to cobwebs (as they are fairly sticky and hard to get rid of) with the word like.

a. is the correct answer