When describing the parade of townspeople who have tarred and feathered Major Molineux, the narrator uses both a simile and imagery, as seen in the following passage:
In [the horned man’s] train, were wild figures in the Indian dress, and many fantastic shapes without a model, giving the whole march a visionary air, as if a dream had broken forth from some feverish brain, and were sweeping visibly through the midnight streets. A mass of people, inactive, except as applauding spectators, hemmed the procession in, and several women ran along the sidewalks, piercing the confusion of heavier sounds, with their shrill voices of mirth or terror.
The simile here—in which the narrator describes the scene as being like “a dream” that “had broken forth from some feverish brain”—captures the eerie and otherworldly mood in this moment. As a sheltered young man from the countryside, Robin has never witnessed such chaos, and thus experiences it more as a dream than as reality.
The imagery comes through in the vivid visual descriptions of these revelers “in the Indian dress” “sweeping visibly through the midnight streets” as well as the auditory descriptions of the spectators “piercing” the sounds of the procession “with their shrill voices of mirth or terror.” All of these descriptions combine to create a scene of utter chaos and confusion as colonists prove that they have control of Boston rather than the British.
