Which excerpt from “good country people” is the best example of figurative language?
a. the reason for her keeping them so long was that they were . . good country people.
b. if she don’t get there before the dust settles, you can bet she’s dead, that’s all.
c. she would make these statements, usually at the table, in a tone of gentle insistence as if no one held them but her.
d. it was hard for mrs. hopewell to realize that her child was thirty-two now and that for more than twenty years she had had only one leg.

B. If she don’t get there before the dust settles, you can bet she’s dead, that’s all.

In writing/literature, things can be said in one of two ways—literally and figuratively. To say something literally, naturally, one means exactly what the words say. When one says something figuratively, one does not mean exactly what is written for the sake of conveying a meaning that is engaging to readers by manner of personification, hyperbole, metaphor, simile, etc. That said, when we read option “B,” we know the author does not literally mean there is dust settling or that anyone will be dead. What is meant is that when tensions subside she will be in a lot of trouble.

merry christmas to you, too. may god be with you all in doing your work and just living a great life in general! < 3