Final answer:
The sentence uses personification, a figure of speech that ascribes human characteristics to inanimate objects, as seen with the curtains 'waving' to trick-or-treaters.
Step-by-step explanation:
The sentence 'Tattered curtains hanging in the windows waved to groups of trick-or-treaters who scurried by' uses the figure of speech known as personification. Personification is a literary device where human qualities are attributed to objects or abstract concepts. In this case, the curtains are imbued with the human action of waving, which is something that curtains cannot literally do. Similar uses of personification can be found in various literary works to evoke sensory experience or to give life to the inanimate, enhancing the atmosphere and depth of the narrative.
Examples from other texts including phrases like 'the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled me' from Edgar Allan Poe’s 'The Raven' or 'The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes' from T.S. Eliot’s 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', both employ personification to add a vivid, animate quality to the described scenes. This literary device is frequently used to create a mood or to help readers connect more deeply with the non-human elements of a story.