Hair Dye
The very first words of Isobel Catching's first-person narration are an example of imagery. After asserting that they are in a car at the top of a hill, she notes "Mum’s hair is redder than the setting sun." The comparison of her mother's hair to the fiery display of a vivid sunset t is commentary on the dye her mother chose to change her hair color. Isobel reminds her mom that she warned her against using a dye called Scarlet Dream.
Shattered
Later, Isobel will turn the use of imagery away from her mother and toward herself. "I’m a glass thrown against rock. Shattered. Bits of me everywhere." This particular example of imagery is commonly engaged for the purpose of underlining the emotional frailty of a person at a particular moment. Isobel takes things to a less commonly used level, however, when she literalizes the slivers left behind following the explosion of rock against glass. She despondently concludes it will be impossible to simply find all the pieces of herself rather than, as one might expect, to put them all back together.
Sudden Night
Beth, the other narrator of the story, describes a moment in which it seems as if the day suddenly turned into night. "I was enveloped by a huge shadow with curving shapes at the edges. As if some big clawed thing loomed at my back." In fact, day had not turned into night at all, but something is happening to give the narrator the sensation of that having happened. The imagery here is purposely vague and ambiguous because at this point, Beth's understanding of what is really going on with this onset of darkness is nebulous and imprecise.
Death
The opening section of Beth's narration recounts the events leading to her death. "I could see the town, hear the wind, smell the eucalyptus from the trees and taste the gritty dust. I just couldn’t touch any of it." Imagery is used very simply here to describe what seems to be nothing particularly unusual. The reality is that simply the ability to see, hear, smell, taste and feel anything is actually beyond her capacity. She is in the process of making the transition from living to death.
