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Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Book 1, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Alive Again:
When Lilith first Awakens again in her new isolation room, she is disoriented and disappointed. Her physical sensations are overwhelming, which the novel describes with sensory imagery:
Alive!
Still alive.
Alive… again.
Awakening was hard, as always. The ultimate disappointment. It was a struggle to take in enough air to drive off nightmare sensations of asphyxiation. Lilith Iyapo lay gasping, shaking with the force of her effort. Her heart beat too fast, too loud. She curled around it, fetal, helpless. Circulation began to return to her arms and legs in flurries of minute, exquisite pains.
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Book 1, Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Tentacles Like Whiskers:
As Jdahya explains the purpose behind Lilith’s Awakening and her 250-year-long sleep, Lilith cannot help but focus on his extraterrestrial physicality. With a visual simile, Lilith describes the strangeness of his tentacles:
Unlock with LitCharts A+These last words touched a memory in her. “Jdahya?” she said.
The tentacles down the sides of his face wavered, looked for a moment like dark, muttonchop whiskers. […]
He said nothing for a moment, then all his tentacles stretched themselves upward. Someone spoke to him from above in the usual way and in a voice much like his own, but this time in a foreign language, choppy and fast.
Related Themes:
Book 1, Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Smooth as Fingernails:
When Lilith indirectly reveals to Jdahya that she does not want to die, he expresses pleasure. The novel illustrates how the Oankali’s expression of pleasure changes their appearance with a visual simile:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She was able to approach him hesitantly. Even viewed from only a couple of feet away, the tentacles looked like a smooth second skin. “Do you mind if…” She stopped and began again. “I mean… may I touch you?”
“Yes.”
It was easier to do than she had expected. His skin was cool and almost too smooth to be real flesh—smooth the way her fingernails were and perhaps as tough as a fingernail.
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Book 2, Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Starfish Hands:
Curious about Nikanj’s sexual maturation process, Lilith asks Kahguyaht about the Oankali’s sensory hands. Kahguyaht shows Lilith his own sensory hand, which she describes with sensory imagery and a simile comparing it to a starfish:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The semitransparent material at the end began to change, to move in circular waves away to the sides of the tip and something slender and pale emerged from the center of the tip. As she watched, the slender thing seemed to thicken and divide. There were eight fingers—or rather, eight slender tentacles arranged around a circular palm that looked wet and deeply lined. It was like a starfish—one of the brittle stars with long, slender, snakelike arms.
Related Themes:
Book 4, Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Training Room:
After the entire group is Awakened and acclimated to the presence of extraterrestrial creatures, the Oankali sends them to the training room. The Oankali have designed the so-called room to mirror the Amazonian rainforest on Earth, which the novel illustrates with intense visual imagery:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The training room was brown and green and blue. Brown, muddy ground was visible through thin, scattered leaf litter. Brown, muddy water flowed past the land, glittering in the light of what seemed to be the sun. The water was too laden with sediment to appear blue, though above it, the ceiling—the sky—was a deep, intense blue. There was no smoke, no smog, only a few clouds—remains of a recent rain. Across the wide river, there was the illusion of a line of trees on the opposite bank. A line of green. Away from the river, the predominant color was green.
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