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Simile
Explanation and Analysis—Melody and Shrieks:
In Chapter 9, the band of travelers hides in a cavern. David Gamut uses imagery and a simile to describe the eerie sounds of nature:
“There is melody in the fall of the cataract, and the rushing of many waters is sweet to the senses!” said David, pressing his hand confusedly on his brow. “Is not the air yet filled with shrieks and cries, as though the departed spirits of the damned—”
The waterfall sounds to him like a "melody." He draws on the sense of taste to describe the sound as "sweet," suggesting that the waterfall is so pleasing to the ear that it spills over into other senses. It is disorienting to him to encounter this pleasurable sound when he has lately been listening to the Mohawks' "shrieks and cries" as they pursue the travelers. He uses a simile to compare the sound of all this shrieking to the sound of "the departed spirits of the damned." His ear has been trained to hear the hell-like sound of the Mohawks' battle cries, so it throws him off when instead he encounters the heaven-like sound of the waterfall. Duncan goes on to confirm, impatiently, that the Mohawks have fallen silent for a time. David often seems like a foolish character, but here he demonstrates that of everyone, he is perhaps most in tune with what the sounds of the forest mean. His disorientation at the sudden sound of peace helps emphasize that in the forest, discordant as it might be, danger and peace lie right around the corner from one another.
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