Figurative Language in "The Egypt Game": Examples by Type

Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Egypt Game (1967) employs rich figurative language to evoke the children's imaginative world. Key examples:

Simile

"She looked as though she had swallowed a canary." (Ch. 1) — April's smug satisfaction

Metaphor

"The sun was a molten ball of fire in the sky." (Ch. 2) — Intense California heat

Personification

"The wind whispered through the trees." (Ch. 3) — Atmosphere in the storage yard

Hyperbole

"The waves were as big as mountains." (Ch. 4) — Melanie's dramatic imagination

Alliteration

"The children climbed the steep slope." (Ch. 5) — /kl/ and /st/ clusters mimic effort

Onomatopoeia

"The dog barked loudly." (Ch. 6) — "Barked" enacts sound; "loudly" redundant but emphatic

Additional Devices

• Imagery: "The smell of dust and old paper and something sweet and musty" (Ch. 1) — olfactory immersion
• Symbolism: The Nefertiti bust = idealized beauty, secret knowledge
• Foreshadowing: Early references to "strangers" and "danger" presage the murder subplot

Snyder uses figurative language not decoratively but to blur the line between the children's game and their psychological reality—making the "Egypt" they create feel authentically transformative.