How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story

“When my mother finally stepped outside, the sun was peeking over the pine trees, ready for the moon to take over.”

Tingle personifies the sun and the moon by giving the sun the ability to peek and the moon the ability to take over. Personification refers to descriptions of inanimate objects that include human traits or abilities, and here it develops the thematic connectedness between the Choctaws and nature.

“I felt the warm shiver. I closed my eyes. When I opened them, Mister Jonah was sitting by the tree. Suddenly, his hair burst into flames! He screamed and waved his arms. He fell rolling to the ground. His arms were skinny logs and flames shot from his fingers.”

Isaac’s first supernatural vision reveals the burning of Mister Jonah. Tingle uses these dramatic visions to foreshadow the violent events of the novel. Here, Isaac is foreseeing that the Nahullos will burn the Choctaws’ homes.

“The branches of the tree were long and thin and the leaves were light green. They hung over the river, like lime green walls of a small room.”

In this simile, Tingle describes the tree branches by comparing them to the lime green walls of a small room. By comparing the natural world to a room, Tingle prefaces what Isaac’s mother will say in the next quote: the Choctaws’ land is their home, not the physical houses that burn down.