Leon Garfield writes with an inventive, almost theatrical flair, and his descriptions of London and its inhabitants are full of surprising comparisons. That makes Smith a useful text for teaching figurative language and authorial style. Essays on this topic reveal whether students can move from spotting a simile to explaining what it accomplishes.

The most common error in style essays is feature spotting. A student identifies a metaphor, names it correctly, and then writes that it makes the description more interesting. That sentence could be attached to nearly any figure of speech in any book, which is exactly why it earns little credit under a strong rubric.

Better essays ask what a particular comparison makes the reader feel or understand about a person or place. If Garfield describes a menacing character using an image of something cold or predatory, the student should explain how that image shapes our judgment before the character acts. That is the difference between labeling and reading.

Building Criteria Around Effect

Your rubric should treat identification as the lowest level of performance and effect as the target. A student who quotes a vivid line, names the device, and explains how it influences mood, character, or theme has met the standard. Anything less than that is partial credit, and students should know it from the start.

• Selects precise quotations that clearly show figurative language
• Names the device accurately without relying on the label alone
• Explains the effect on the reader's impression of a character or scene
• Connects the language to a larger idea in the novel
• Writes about the quotation in smooth, integrated sentences

Common Pitfalls to Watch For

Watch for quotations that are too long. Students often paste an entire paragraph and then comment on none of it, which hides whether they actually understood the figure. Teach them to choose the shortest phrase that carries the image and to build their analysis around those few words.

Another pitfall is unsupported claims about what the author intended. Encourage students to write about what the language suggests to a reader rather than asserting Garfield's private motives. That keeps analysis grounded in the text and easier to grade consistently.

Feedback Examples That Teach

A weak comment says "good example." A strong one says "you found the image; now tell me what it makes us think about this character before he speaks." The second comment shows the student exactly how to deepen the next draft, and it can be written once as a pattern and adapted across many papers.

AI feedback tools handle this adaptation well because they can read the specific quotation a student chose and tailor a prompt to it. Teachers still review the output, but the time spent drafting comments falls dramatically. That makes it realistic to give meaningful style feedback to every student.

Extending the Learning

Invite students to try Garfield's technique in a short piece of their own, describing a familiar place with one surprising comparison and explaining its effect. Writing in a style deepens their ability to analyze it. It also gives you a low-stakes assessment of whether the idea has landed.

Tie the unit back to the larger question of why authors choose elaborate language at all. Students who consider how Garfield's humor and exaggeration coexist with real danger begin to see style as an argument, which is the most valuable insight a style essay can produce.