Fifteen-year-old Kwan sat on a large boulder on the rocky shore and watched her seven-year-old brother, Min, race along the beach close to the water’s edge. The handmade kite, streaming high in the air behind him, created a striking image against the vivid blue sky. Occasionally, Min called out, “Kwan, look at me! I’m flying! I’m flying!” She beamed and waved at him, urging him on in his glee. She recalled the day her parents first brought home the little bundle from the hospital, the first boy in the family, making her the happiest big sister ever. The family had had a new baby to care for and cherish, and she had a precious little brother to shower with love and attention. Min brought joy and delight to the whole household, and his presence completed the family. Kwan smiled again as she watched him run along, and she felt great contentment at the pleasure he took in flying the kite they had made together. Ever since Father had taken Min to the Korean Kite Festival, he had begged for a kite of his own. The multicolored dragons, birds, and box kites with their colorful tails and plumes appeared to enchant Min as he watched them soar and race in the clear blue sky. He stood mesmerized by the panoply of colors. “Someday, I will race a kite in the festival!” Min stated with determination. When Min made up his mind that a kite would be the perfect summer project for him and Kwan, she was surprised. “I don’t want a kite-making kit,” he informed their father. “I want to build it myself—with Kwan’s help.” Kwan initially wondered why Min included her in his quest for a kite, but she quickly realized that her clever brother had correctly surmised that their father would more likely approve the request if Min’s big sister were there to help him. How could Kwan refuse?

Kwan gazed out at her brother and heard his shrieks of delight as he tried to direct their marvelous flying creation. She watched it wheel, spin, and dive—a wild, colorful bird putting on an aerial display. Its gold and red crepe-paper wings fluttered in the air, mimicking the flight of a predatory bird surveying the landscape for prey. It swooped and dived, perhaps discovering a possible meal, and then went airborne again to avoid the rocky terrain below. Min was the falconer, guiding his bird on its path through the sky, not yet ready to call it back to the ground. But Kwan grew concerned when she looked out at the dark, threatening clouds beginning to roll in off the water. When she saw the streaks of lightning within the cloud formation, she pointed to the distant storm and called out to her little brother to bring in the kite. Min nodded and rolled in the kite string, bringing his bird home. “Let’s go,” Kwan told her brother and put her arm around him to fold him safely under her wing as they both held onto the kite. “It’s time to go home.”

How does the extended metaphor in Paragraph 3 affect the mood of this passage?