The story is basically saying that we can learn from our elders, because they have been around longer and have more experience than us.
You can see this when it says "the tree is older than you are...you might find stories in its branches".
Yes, it's a dependent clause.
Simile- Plath uses the line " like a terrible fish" in comparing the aging women's reflection that she sees in the mirror. Personification- Plath refers to the mirror in the poem as "the eye of a little god" because it always shows the truth. She was an American poet, novelist and short story writer.