The imagery of King Solomon Gillis
King Solomon's feelings and confrontation are described to depict the sense of sight to readers. More importantly, the imagery sets the stage of the novel to aid readers in comprehending what to expect. The author writes, “Confronted suddenly by daylight, King Solomon Gillis stood dazed and blinking. The railroad station, the long, white-walled corridor, the impassable slot machine, the terrifying subway train ⎯ he felt as if he had been caught up in the jaws of a steam-shovel, jammed together with other helpless lumps of dirt, swept blindly along for a time, and at last abruptly dumped.”
Hearing imagery
The terrible and strange sounds heard in Harlem are nothing but a depiction of the hearing imagery. The author writes, “There had been strange and terrible sounds: “New York! Penn Terminal ⎯ all change!” “Pohter, hyer, pohter, suh?" Shuffle of a thousand soles, a clatter of a thousand heels, innumerable echoes. Cracking rifle-shots — no, snapping turnstiles.”
The imagery of customers
The frequency of customers coming to the shop is used to depict readers' sense of sight and confirm that King Solomon is not a thief. The author writes, "But he had not succeeded in seeing King Solomon steal even an apple. What he had observed, however, was that the number of customers that came into the store during the morning’s slack hour had pronouncedly increased in the last few days. Before, there had been three or four. Now there were twelve or fifteen.”
