Hyperbole helps describe Armitage's messages to readers about the child's fears of failing in adulthood, but adulthood can give you freedom and opportunity. We see the child's fear of failure in adulthood, which is conveyed by the hyperbole of "fall or fly." The fall represents failure and the fly represents success. This hyperbole shows the child's fears about whether or not he will succeed in adulthood. The poem's conclusion is ambiguous, but it reflects a real-life experience that most of us have, not knowing whether independence is an opportunity for us to thrive or fail. This message made me wonder if I will thrive or fail in adulthood, but I know that it is a part of life and that almost everyone has or will undergo this life experience. A further hyperbole that Armitage uses to demonstrate that adulthood can give you freedom and opportunity is the "infinite sky". This demonstrates the freedom, independence and opportunities that the child gets in his adulthood and may not be as scary as it seems, as you can choose and decide for yourself. I believe I get small doses of independence because I can decide my own career path as I will be thirteen next year and then I will enter the big world. Armitage uses hyperbole to convey to the reader the message that the child is afraid, but knows that he will have freedom and endless opportunities ahead of him.