Imagery of sight
The description of the rat crossing the road helps readers to visualize the setting of the books. The author writes, “A large rat crossed my path last night on Fifty-seventh Street. It came out from under a wooded fence at a vacant lot near Bendel's, paused for traffic, and then streaked across the up-town sidewalk, sat awhile in the dark, and vanished." Therefore, the reader can see the rat as it crosses the road and as it vanishes, which is a perfect way of engagement by the author.
The imagery of Will (sight)
Fain is interacting with Will in a bar lobby, and they are having beer. Abruptly, small mice pass in front of them without fear. Will is astonished that even exclusive hotels have mice. As they continue conversing, Fain remembers that the last time she saw, Will was in Oakland. Fain says, "I had last seen Will in Oakland; before that, in Louisiana. He does the law. Then something, perhaps a startling sense of my peripheral vision, registered on my left, coming toward my face fast."
Imagery of hearing
The sense of hearing is depicted in the book when the author writes, "Two rats, then. Cabdrivers can't even hear directions through those new participations, which do not seem to me bulletproof, although, of course, I've never checked it. Soundproof.”
The imagery of the radio station
As the narrator drives through the countryside, she listens to the radio station playing music. The narrator says, "Alone in the sports car, speeding through the countryside, I sang along with the radio station, turned way up. Not happiest of songs, Janis Joplin, not in any terms, but one of the nicest lines."
