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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
Imagery
Explanation and Analysis—Evening in Ulapur:
Near the beginning of the story, the narrator uses imagery to set the scene, describing what evenings in the village of Ulapur are like:
In the evenings, when smoke curled up from the village cowsheds, crickets grated in the bushes, a band of intoxicated Baul singers in a far village sang raucously to drums and cymbals, and even a poet if seated alone on a dark verandah might have shuddered a little at the trembling leaves, the postmaster would go inside, light a dim lamp in a corner of the room and call for Ratan.
Here, the narrator uses imagery to engage the readers’ different senses—they can see how “the smoke curled up from the village cowsheds,” hear how the “band of intoxicated Baul singers sang raucously to drums and cymbals,” and feel how the hypothetical poet “shuddered a little at the trembling leaves.” Like in the story as a whole, there are peaceful elements of these descriptions and unsettling ones. The curling smoke seems to be a comforting sight, yet the singers are “raucous” and the poet “shudders.” The narrator hints here at how the postmaster has an ambivalent relationship to rural life—he both appreciates it and doesn’t feel quite at ease.
The final piece of this passage—“the postmaster would go inside […] and call for Ratan”—shows how, while feeling melancholy in this new place, the Postmaster looks for connection in an unlikely place—from an impoverished young woman he would never have had the opportunity to know back in Calcutta.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Rain:
As the Postmaster is settling into his life in Ulapur, the narrator captures the changing weather using imagery:
During the month of Srābaṇ, the rain was continuous. Ditches, pits and channels filled to overflowing with water. The croaking of frogs and the patter of rain went on day and night. It was virtually impossible to get about on foot – one had to go to market by boat. One day it rained torrentially from dawn.
In trying to capture the extent of the rain coming down during Srāban (the fourth month of the Bengali calendar, roughly mid-July to mid-August), the narrator describes how “the croaking of the frogs and the patter of rain went on day and night.” This imagery allows readers to imagine themselves in the scene by hearing the sounds of the frogs as well as the rain. “Patter” is actually an example of onomatopoeia here, meaning that it is a word that phonetically imitates the sound it describes—in other words, the noise that rain makes when it hits a roof or the ground can sound like “patter.”
All of this imagery effectively communicates the torrential nature of the rain which, in turn, helps readers understand how little control the Postmaster has over his new rural environment. Unlike in the developed city of Calcutta, when it rains in Ulapur, it is “virtually impossible to get about on foot.” This is one of the reasons the narrator ultimately decides to go back to the city at the end of the story.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Soft Hands and Bangles:
When the torrential rain leads the Postmaster to fall ill, the narrator captures the Postmaster’s longing for his family using imagery:
He felt in need of comfort, ill and miserable as he was, in this isolated place, the rain pouring down. He remembered the touch on his forehead of soft hands, conch-shell bangles. He wished his mother or sister were sitting here next to him, soothing his illness and loneliness with feminine tenderness. And his longings did not stay unfulfilled. The young girl Ratan was a young girl no longer.
The imagery here—“He remembered the touch on his forehead of soft hands, conch-shell bangles”—helps readers feel alongside the Postmaster his mother and sister’s soft, healing touch, as well as his desperation for such touch. They can also visualize the “conch-shell bangles” adorning wrists that gently touch their foreheads.
This imagery also helps readers understand the motivation behind the Postmaster’s relationship with Ratan. While it went against the rigid social hierarchy in India at the time (middle-class men usually did not develop friendships with impoverished young women), the Postmaster’s desire to connect with Ratan emerged from his loneliness and desperation for “feminine tenderness.”
Though Ratan does come to care for the Postmaster, she also opens herself to the possibility of a relationship with him out of her own self-interest—he offers her payment in the form of food and the promise of a better life. Unfortunately, when the Postmaster leaves Ulapur at the end of the story, Ratan is left without any of these resources once again.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Earth's Breath:
As the Postmaster is settling into his life in rural Ulapur, the narrator describes the climate of the town using imagery and personification:
It was a fine afternoon in the rainy season. The breeze was softly warm; there was a smell of sunshine on wet grass and leaves. Earth’s breath—hot with fatigue—seemed to brush against the skin.
The narrator combines sensory imagery (“the breeze was softly warm; there was a smell of sunshine on wet grass and leaves”) and personification (“Earth’s breath—hot with fatigue—seemed to brush against the skin”) in order to capture the Postmaster’s joy about his rural life in the jungle, as well as his feeling of being suffocated and trapped there. This dual intention comes across in how the narrator’s language is contradictory—first the breeze is “softly warm” and then it is “breath—hot with fatigue.” This mirrors how, near the beginning of the story, the narrator is enjoying his new life in the natural world while also missing his more comfortable life in the city. He is living close to nature and, at times, it feels a little too close.
It is notable that this story takes place during rainy season, as the rain and humidity add to the narrator’s sense of being confined—he is either stuck inside with a leaky roof or else feels “hot breath” on his skin that he cannot escape.
Related Themes:
