The purpose of this study is to investigate, analyze, and interpret metaphors which emerge in adolescent writing, and the strategies adolescents use in generating metaphors in writing. This study employs an ethnographic design with case study reporting. The setting is a grade nine class: in an inner city school. The researcher is also the teacher of the class. The participants in the study are three grade nine students who represent the broad range of writers in the class. Observation, note-taking, artifacts informal and formal interviews, and audio taping of the students serve data collection. Language has two domains: literal and figurative. This study presents a lens for looking at literacy from a figurative perspective. An inquiry into metaphor presents educators with another way of looking at the qualitative dimensions of adolescent writing and to reflect on class room practice. This study looks at understanding the symbiotic relationship between the literal and figurative domains of language and how adolescent writers employ these two domains in writing to generate meaning. This study will enable teachers to reflect on their beliefs about adolescents' construction of knowledge; the generative and imaginative nature of language development; the qualitative dimensions of adolescent thought and expression. (LLBA 2000, vol. 34, n. 5)