The Creeping Shadow Imagery

The Creeping Shadow Imagery

Sounds

Lucy's description of the ghost-haunted area under investigation depicts the sense of hearing. Lucy says, “There were the sounds too, centuries old; the one I’d traced up the empty stairs and hallways of the house. The rustling linen, the crack of broken glass, the weeping of the dying woman: all were louder now.” The imagery is significant because it shows readers the mysteries of ghost investigations. The entire exercise of destroying the source of ghosts is dangerous because the investigators' lives are at risk.

The human skull

The sense of sight is depicted when Lucy describes the human skull inside the jar. Lucy says, “Inside, radiating a smoky greenish light was a large glass jar with a human skull clamped in its depths. A hideous translucent face pressed against the glass, nose bent sideways, poached-egg eyes flicking to and fro." Throughout her investigations, Lucy relies on the human skull to guide her. The porched-egg eyes of the human skull inside the jar can see things human eyes cannot see. The imagery is also important because it shows how Lucy communicates with the skull, an ability that enables her to identify the source of ghosts during her investigations.

The appearance of ghosts

In investigating ghosts, the investigator needs to know how to identify the ghosts when they start appearing. When Lucy detects the presence of the ghost, she sees "A livid face hanging in a cradle of smoke-plume hair. Black eyes staring, white skin clicking to the skull like melting wax. You could see the skeletal neck, the stains on the dress, and the jaw unnaturally agape. Her hands were raised, the fingers bent towards me.” The imagery is important because it paints an actual picture of the ghosts. By identifying the ghost, the investigator uses defense mechanisms to deal with it before it launches an attack.

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