After hearing that his Obituary had been published in the new york journal
Answer:
Rewriting the story to first-person would change the perspective of the story. Originally it was third person, so you generally know about most characters from a narrator point of view. However in first person, it focuses on only one character's thoughts and feelings and the reasons for their decisions.
A metaphor would be a figure of speech which makes an implicit or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share common traits.
Example: the assignment was a piece of cake (which would mean the assignment was easy)
So comparing your family you could say they are a team cause they support you, or tree cause they are your roots I can't think of anything else but you get the idea!