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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
Imagery
Explanation and Analysis—Siblings or Parents:
Near the beginning of the story, while driving the Dases to the Sun Temple, Mr. Kapasi reflects on their family dynamics, using similes and imagery in the process:
They were all like siblings, Mr. Kapasi thought as they passed a row of date trees. Mr. and Mrs. Das behaved like an older brother and sister, not parents. It seemed that they were in charge of the children only for the day; it was hard to believe they were regularly responsible for anything other than themselves. Mr. Das tapped on his lens cap, and his tour book, dragging his thumbnail occasionally across the pages so that they made a scraping sound. Mrs. Das continued to polish her nails.
The similes here—in which Mr. Kapasi (via the narrator) describes Mr. and Mrs. Das as being “like siblings” and “like an older brother and sister” to their three children—communicate the couple’s youthful 20-something energy, as well as their lack of parenting skills. Despite the close quarters—all six of them are squished into one car—Mr. Das is only paying attention to his guidebook and Mrs. Das is painting her nails, ignoring their children in the process.
The imagery here includes the detail about the car passing “a row of date trees” (helping readers to picture the scene) and the description of Mr. Das “dragging his thumbnail occasionally across the pages [of his guidebook] so that they made a scraping sound” (helping readers to hear the scene). The juxtaposition of the pleasant scenery outside the car and unpleasant sounds inside the car captures the uncomfortable energy between the Das family members in this moment.
In this scene, as throughout the story, Mr. and Mrs. Das prove to be more interested in themselves than in their children. They almost never communicate with each other or their kids, choosing instead to exist in their own internal worlds.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Monkeys:
Near the beginning of the Das family’s drive to different sacred sites in East India, the children notice a group of monkeys in the trees on the side of the road. Lahiri uses a simile and imagery here, as seen in the following passage:
"Monkeys!" Ronny shrieked. "Wow!”
They were seated in groups along the branches, with shining black faces, silver bodies, horizontal eyebrows, and crested heads. Their long gray tails dangled like a series of ropes among the leaves. A few scratched themselves with black leathery hands, or swung their feet, staring as the car passed.
Lahiri uses a simile here when noting how the monkeys’ tails “dangled like a series of ropes among the leaves.” She uses visual imagery when describing the monkeys “shining black faces, silver bodies, horizontal eyebrows, and crested heads,” as well as the way that they “scratched themselves with black leathery hands” and stared at the car.
All of these details bring readers more closely into the scene and also communicate that the monkeys pose a threat to the characters. The detail that their tails appear like “ropes” has an unnerving quality, given the way that ropes in trees typically designate someone has been (or will be) hanged. Likewise, the descriptions of the monkeys’ appearance are slightly ominous—their “horizontal eyebrows,” “leathery hands,” and unsettling stares suggest that they are somewhat menacing creatures. That Ronny is excited to see them hints at the fact that the Dases—an Indian American family on a tourist trip—are not aware of the threats that the monkeys pose.
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Explanation and Analysis—Mr. Kapasi’s Longing:
During their rest stop on the way to the Sun Temple, Mr. Das suggests that Mr. Kapasi and Mrs. Das sit closer together at the restaurant so he can take a photo of them. Lahiri uses imagery to capture Mr. Kapasi’s experience in this moment, as seen in the following passage:
He could smell a scent on her skin, like a mixture of whiskey and rosewater. He worried suddenly that she could smell his perspiration, which he knew had collected beneath the synthetic material of his shirt. He polished off his mango juice in one gulp and smoothed his silver hair with his hands. A bit of the juice dripped onto his chin. He wondered if Mrs. Das had noticed.
Here, Lahiri uses imagery to communicate to readers the intensity of Mr. Kapasi’s romantic and sexual longing for Mrs. Das in this moment. The description of Mrs. Das smelling “like a mixture of whiskey and rosewater” helps readers to experience, at the olfactory level, how much Mr. Kapasi desires her. It is likely that whiskey and rosewater are two smells Mr. Kapasi enjoys, and that he imagines she smells this way demonstrates how he is projecting his fantasies onto her.
Lahiri also uses imagery when helping readers to smell the “perspiration” coming off of Mr. Kapasi and to feel the sweat trapped under “the synthetic material of his shirt.” These details help readers to understand how nervous and excited Mr. Kapasi is to be sitting so close to Mrs. Das. Likewise, the sensory description of the mango juice “dripp[ing] onto his chin” and description of Mr. Kapasi “wonder[ing] if Mrs. Das had noticed” helps readers to sense how hyper-aware Mr. Kapasi is of his body and of Mrs. Das’s attention—again, due to the fact that he is secretly longing for her here.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Motherhood for Mrs. Das:
After confiding in Mr. Kapasi about the affair she had with her husband’s friend eight years earlier, Mrs. Das (via the narrator) launches into a long story about how that affair came to be, using imagery in the process:
After marrying so young she was overwhelmed by it all, having a child so quickly, and nursing, and warming up bottles of milk and testing their temperature against her wrist while Raj was at work, dressed in sweaters and corduroy pants, teaching his students about rocks and dinosaurs. Raj never looked cross or harried, or plump as she had become after the first baby.
Here, Mrs. Das details for Mr. Kapasi how marrying and having a child so young negatively impacted her (thus leading her to have an affair). The description of Mrs. Das “warming up bottles of milk and testing their temperature against her wrist” is an example of tactile imagery—since it helps readers to feel the experience alongside Mrs. Das—and the description of Mr. Das in his “sweaters and corduroy pants” not looking “cross or harried, or plump” (as she did) is an example of visual imagery, as it helps readers to visualize a calm and collected Mr. Das next to his overwhelmed wife.
The imagery here combines to help readers understand that Mrs. Das did not feel supported as a young mother who was expected to do all of the childrearing. That Mr. Das was collected and put together through this experience suggests that he was not an attentive parent or partner. Ultimately, Mrs. Das suggests, she and her husband both bear the responsibility for the affair—she because she was unfaithful to her husband and he because he was a neglectful partner.
Related Themes:
