Figurative language is a means of expression that differs from the ordinary. In narratives, such language embellishes and often enlivens ideas, providing the reader with deeper meaning and enjoyment. Here are literary identifications of the examples given above from To Kill a Mockingbird:

"The ceiling danced with metallic light" is an example of personification, since the inanimate ceiling is given the human quality of being able to dance.

"She looked and smelled like a peppermint drop." This sentence contains a simile, as stated previously, since Miss Caroline and a peppermint drop are certainly different, and Scout makes this unusual comparison using the word "like."

"Walter looked as if he had been raised on fish food." This sentence contains a figure of speech: "raised on fish food." Scout does not really believe that Walter has a diet of fish food; instead, she uses a figure of speech, or "a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words," to express his undernourished body, pale face, and watery eyes (literarydevices.net).

"Sometimes it's better to bend the law in special cases. In your case, the law remains rigid. So to school you must go." "To bend the law" is an idiom; that is, this is an expression which uses a figure of speech that has come to take on a certain meaning that is commonly recognized. Idiom is defined as "a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words" (Cambridge Dictionary). "The law remains rigid" is also an idiom that incorporates a figure of speech.