Figurative Language – Similes

Red Fern takes place in the heavily wooded Ozark foothills of Oklahoma. The people living there are country people who live close to the land. In writing Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls captures the colorful language of these country people.

You will find that many of Rawls’ expressions are similes. Similes are a type of figurative language that uses like or as to show similarities between two different things. (Example: gentle as a lamb)

Directions: Read each figurative expression and discuss how its use enhanced the story. If the expression is a simile, write “simile” next to the expression

Choose two of your favorite expressions and draw a cartoon for each. Be sure to use the expressions in your cartoon. If you have the capabilities, you may draw on paper, and take a digital photo or scan, then import your digitized image into the cartoon box. Ask your family for help with this.

Simile examples:

1. “The land was rich, black, and fertile. Papa said it would grow hair on a crosscut

saw.” (p. 8)

2. “His tail was a big as a wet corncob and every hair on his small body was sticking

straight up.” (p. 11)

3. “My straw-colored hair was long and shaggy, and was brushed out like a corn tassle

that had been hit by a wind.” (p. 29)

4. “I stuck out my tongue. It was as red as pokeberry juice…” (p. 29)

5. “When the words finally came out they sounded like the squeaky old pulley on our

well when Mama drew up a bucket of water.” (p. 36)

6. “I knew the pups were mine, all mine, yet I couldn’t move. My heart started acting

like a drunk grasshopper.” (p. 37)

7. “A sick look cam over his face. Bending over, croaking like a bullfrog that had been

caught by a water moccasin, he started going around in a circle.” (p. 40)

8. “The sound seemed to be all around us. It screamed its way into the cave and rang

like a blacksmith’s anvil against the rock walls.” (p. 45)

9. “With hog lard I greased my boots until they were as soft as a hummingbird’s nest.”

(p. 69)

10. “White sheets of water, knocked high in the moonlight by his churning feet,

gleamed like thousands of tiny white stars.” (p. 74)

11. “His friendly old face was as red as a turkey gobbler’s wattle.” (p. 126)

Cartoons