"You could see a rock carrying three other rocks on its head." What literary technique is being used?

Answer Details

Personification is a figure of speech that attributes human characteristics, actions, or qualities to non-human things. In the expression "a rock carrying three other rocks on its head," the rock is described as though it were a person: it "carries" objects and has a "head." Rocks are inanimate geological formations that do not possess heads and cannot carry things in the way people do.

This description draws on the distinctive granite formations of Jos, in Nigeria's Plateau State, where large boulders naturally rest atop one another in seemingly impossible configurations. By describing these formations using human imagery, the writer brings the landscape to life and makes the scene vivid and engaging for the reader.

This is not a simile because no comparison is made using "like" or "as." It is not hyperbole because the description does not exaggerate - the rock formations in Jos genuinely do sit atop one another. It is not irony because there is no contradiction between what is said and what is meant.