1) What makes the characters in Out of the Dust survivors? 2) How do figurative language and imagery reveal the character's state of mind?

1) The characters experiences a lot of tramam and bad experiences. They have loved ones that died. Billie Joe is a courageist main characther. The mother Billie Joe and the newborn baby died which gives Billie Joe pain.    

2) Authors often employ figurative language to make unfamiliar objects, settings and situations more relatable. Short stories, in particular, rely heavily on figurative language -- such as similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification -- to make the characters and storylines come alive in the reader’s mind.

this passage has a lot of figurative language like examples are

the day we found the sharks' teeth was foggy and cool.

moisture hung in the air so thick you could almost see it sparkling in the dim sunlight.

figurative language can not be taken seriously it is just sayings.

1 - shakespeare

2 - stephen king

3 - stephenie meyer

4 - seiichi morimura

5 - sabrina elkins

6 - sally cheney

7 - samantha hunter

8 - shelley bates

9 - sue civil-brown

10 - sylvie kurtz