The type of figurative language used in the passage is: imagery.
Explanation:
<u>Imagery is a literary device that uses language to appeal to the five senses (sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing). By using imagery, authors involve readers and help them, in their imagination, to see, hear, touch, smell or taste what is being described.</u> In the particular passage we are analyzing here, the author is using imagery when describing the shadow thrown by the bank. <u>By using "a narrow shelf of shadow," the author has us imagining it in a vivid manner, as if we are the character seeing that shadow.</u>
The title of the book, Homesick, reflects its thematic concern, implying that the primary focus of the story is not what Fritz did for thirteen years in China, but rather what she felt.
