Minikins Are Just Freaky...

Read the following passage from Dean Koontz's Tick Tock:

"A whirl of dead melalenca leaves like hundreds of tiny knives spun over him, whispering and buzzing against one another..."

In this sentence, what two literary devices does the author use?

a. simile and personification
b. simile and metaphor
c. irony and internal conflict
d. symbolism and indirect characterization

Scroll down for the answer.

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a. this is correct. the leaves are compared to knives using like, and the leaves cannot whisper, so they have been personified.
b. simile is correct, but the author does not use metaphor in this sentence.
c. There is mild external conflict but no expressed internal conflict
d. Based on this sentence alone, you cannot conclude that there is any symbolism, nor can you conclude that there is any indirect characterization.

Thanks to Zak and Dave from Mrs. Stamey's class for this question.  The question makes them seem to be super smart students, but I'm betting that they used Tick Tock because they didn't read All Quiet on the Western Front like they were supposed to.