I Survived the Great Molasses Flood, 1919

Tarshis relies on metaphor and simile to make historical tragedy emotionally immediate for younger readers. These comparisons translate complex or frightening experiences into sensory, familiar images. When the tank explodes, its bolts “blasted through the air like bullets fired from a machine gun […] Jagged chunks of metal whirled through the air like knife-winged birds” (6). The militaristic imagery evokes chaos and violence while grounding the event in sounds and shapes a child can visualize. The repetition of “like” mimics the rhythm of gunfire, intensifying tension without overt graphic detail.

Metaphors extend beyond the disaster to emotional experience. Carmen’s reflection that “There were moments every day when [her] heart seemed to be crumbling apart, like the church tower in her village after the quake” (29) links her grief to architectural collapse, uniting personal emotion with cultural memory. Similarly, “Usually, the sound of Rosie’s horseshoes on the cobblestones was soothing to Carmen. But today each footstep was a hammer pounding on her heart” (35) externalizes anxiety through auditory imagery. These figurative comparisons transform internal feelings into physical sensations, inviting readers to empathize with Carmen’s pain.

Tarshis’s use of simile during the flood—“Carmen felt like a thousand snakes were wrapping themselves around her” (45)—draws on childlike association and fear, embodying the suffocating horror of the molasses wave. Across the novel, metaphor and simile serve both artistic and pedagogical functions, making abstract emotions tangible and history comprehensible.