Personification
The owner of the car uses personification as imagery to effectively foreshadow the tragic ending. "Then I remember the big motor, with its glaring headlights and glitter of polished brass, waiting for me outside." This description of the engine as large and powerful endows the vehicle with human attributes that almost serve to make it a character in itself. The additional personification of the lights as glaring serves to subtly situate the menace of the vehicle. This sense is finalized with the idea of the car lying in wait for its owner almost as it were a predator setting a trap for its prey.
A Deathly Destiny
The story is one of a car being driven obliviously to the end of mortality due to a lack of control over one's own destiny. Imagery is essential to conveying the implications of losing control over one's fate. "It was a narrow road, and we were just a great, roaring, golden death to anyone who came in our path." This is the very image of a powerful sense of pre-determination overwhelming the limited capacity of one's attempt to exercise control over fate. The imagery that explicitly insinuates a fatal aspect to the vehicle serves to cement the foreshadowing of the story's dark climax.
The Accident
The accident is the central event of the story. Imagery is further utilized to intensify not just the loss of control, but the horror that comes with realizing the loss of that control over one's fate. "I didn't mind so much when I felt my footbrake snap, but when I put all my weight on my side-brake, and the lever clanged to its full limit without a catch, it brought a cold sweat out of me." The use of the word "snap" makes the loss of braking power visceral, as if the driver's ankle has snapped. The outbreak of sweat sends the reader a very strong signal of the potential danger the driver is facing and of his finally understanding the consequences are out of his hands.
Heaven
The exact location of the afterlife to which the car owner is sent is not made explicit. Imagery, however, strongly suggests that is not hell. "Stanley laid his hand upon my shoulder, and his touch was inexpressibly soothing. I felt light and happy, in spite of all." The references to the soft touch of the dead Stanley and the positive emotional state of the driver in the aftermath of the crash is informative. At this point it has still not been revealed that the driver is dead. All indications ironically point to his not having survived because he is in heaven or something like it.
