The first passage is a simile. This can be supported by its definition. A simile means comparing two essentially unlike things through the use of a specific word. The passage is comparing junior high school to a roaring lion. You can see that junior high school is not like a lion itself but it is being compared to one. The second passage is a personification. Personification means that something nonhuman is given human qualities. The passage states, "Nature seemed to keep pushing us around one way or another, teaching us the same thing every ....