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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—Two-Sided Connie:
When introducing readers to Connie at the beginning of the story, the narrator uses imagery, as seen in the following passage:
Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home: her walk, which could be childlike and bobbing, or languid enough to make anyone think she was hearing music in her head; her mouth, which was pale and smirking most of the time, but bright and pink on these evenings out; her laugh, which was cynical and drawling at home—“Ha, ha, very funny”—but highpitched and nervous anywhere else, like the jingling of the charms on her bracelet.
The narrator engages readers’ different senses here, encouraging them to visualize the “childlike and bobbing” way Connie walks at home versus her “languid” walk when out in public, as well as her “pale and smirking” mouth when at home versus her “bright and pink” mouth when out with her friends. The imagery also engages readers auditorily, as seen in the description of the “cynical and drawling” nature of Connie’s private laugh opposed to her “highpitched and nervous” public laugh that sounds “like the jingling of charms on her bracelet.”
All of this imagery helps readers to understand that Connie intentionally controls and curates herself when out in public, likely in order to attract the boys on whom she has crushes. At the same time, the “nervous” nature of her public persona conveys that she is still a child trying to figure out who she really is. In this way, she is different from the 30-year-old Arnold, who curates and controls his persona in a much more devious and manipulative manner.
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Explanation and Analysis—Connie’s Panic:
Near the end of the story, after Arnold has been psychologically tormenting Connie from outside of her house for an extended period of time, Connie runs inside and picks up the phone to call the police. The narrator captures Connie’s panic in this moment using imagery, as seen in the following passage:
Something roared in her ear, a tiny roaring, and she was so sick with fear that she could do nothing but listen to it—the telephone was clammy and very heavy and her fingers groped down to the dial but were too weak to touch it. She began to scream into the phone, into the roaring. She cried out, she cried for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend was stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness.
Sensory descriptions like Connie feeling “sick with fear” and hearing “a tiny roaring” in her ear bring readers more closely into the scene, helping them to understand the level of terror Connie is experiencing in this moment. She has even more somatic experiences that indicate high levels of anxiety, such as her hands feeling “clammy” and her fingers feeling “too weak” to dial the number for the police, or even to hold the “heavy” phone up. The description of Connie feeling “her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if […] Arnold Friend was stabbing her” is another example of imagery, as readers can feel this agonizing experience alongside Connie.
The imagery here communicates just how panicked Connie is and therefore just how effective Arnold has been in his psychological manipulation of the teenager. He has not physically hurt her, and yet he has successfully convinced her that she is powerless over him, including by telling her that if she calls the police he will harm her family. It is no surprise then that, after this scene, Connie submits to him fully, putting down the phone and going outside to drive away with him in his car.
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