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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—The Storm:
When capturing the intensity of the storm that hits the North Carolina countryside at the end of the story, Hurst uses a simile and imagery, as seen in the following passage:
The rain was coming, roaring through the pines, and then, like a bursting Roman candle, a gum tree ahead of us was shattered by a bolt of lightning. When the deafening peal of thunder had died, and in the moment before the rain arrived, I heard Doodle, who had fallen behind, cry out, “Brother, Brother, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!”
The simile here—in which Hurst describes a tree struck by lightning as being “like a bursting Roman candle”—captures the powerful, fireworks-like nature of the lightning. Hurst also uses imagery when describing the “deafening peal of thunder,” helping readers to hear the intensity of the thunder in this moment.
These rich descriptions—combined with Doodle desperately crying out, “Brother, Brother, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me!”—communicate to readers that this is not an ordinary storm. The ferocity of both the lightning and thunder increases the tension in this scene, and makes the life-or-death stakes perfectly clear, preparing readers for Doodle’s untimely death to come. The fact that Brother intentionally abandons Doodle despite the danger of their situation suggests that he is directly responsible for Doodle’s demise.
Related Themes:
