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Idioms
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
Chapter 1: Choose the Good
Explanation and Analysis—Hands of a Man at Work:
In Chapter 1, Westover introduces the reader to her father, Gene. In her description, she lays out his physical traits in detail. These traits are often described using imagery, which in turn contains deeper meaning. For instance, Westover's description of Gene's hands operates as visible and tactile imagery to reveal the nature of his religious faith:
My father was not a tall man but he was able to command a room. He had a presence about him, the solemnity of an oracle. His hands were thick and leathery—the hands of a man who’d been hard at work all his life—and they grasped the Bible firmly.
Related Themes:
Chapter 34: The Substance of Things
Explanation and Analysis—Something Like Faith:
In Chapter 34, Tara returns to her parents' home to tell them that Shawn plans to shoot Audrey. Neither of her parents believe her, and Gene says that Shawn is on the way to the house to "raise hell." Tara flees to the bathroom and looks at herself in the mirror. What she sees there serves as visual imagery for the changes that have occurred in her during her years away, both physical and mental:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And here I was still, and here was the mirror. The same face, repeated in the same three panels. Except it wasn’t. This face was older, and floating above a soft cashmere sweater. But Dr. Kerry was right: it wasn’t the clothes that made this face, this woman, different. It was something behind her eyes, something in the set of her jaw—a hope or belief or conviction—that a life is not fixed, a thing unalterable. I don’t have a word for what it was I saw, but I suppose it was something like faith.
Related Themes:
