- non living objects, things and abstractions as characters -

Personification is an ontological metaphor in which a thing or abstraction is represented as a person. You can personify objects, concepts or animals, with intention to avoid vulgarity of objectification. Authors use personification to make stories more dramatic and interesting and because it is easier for the reader or viewer to relate to something with human attributes, a character. 

This is one of the techniques to express complicated or abstract ideas.