Water imagery
Partnoy's narrator recites a poem she wrote before her imprisonment, about a stream that was redirected and forced underground in order to accommodate a new housing development. Others regarded the poem as a metaphor for the repression of human beings under an increasingly intolerant right-wing government in Argentina, however no such symbolic meaning was intended. The regret and sorrow were solely for the beautiful stream and the trees and animals it supported. But water is traditionally associated with emotion. The opportunity of feeling raindrops and catching them in her hand during one of her escorted walks outside filled Partnoy with joy. Likewise she longs for a cold, carbonated soft drink promised (but not delivered) by one of her visitors.
Blindfold imagery
Because the prisoners were blindfolded constantly, the blindfold is one of the most omnipresent images in the book. Many of the experiences the narrator relates are described chiefly by touch, however the few things that she is able to notice -- such as the missing flower on one of her shoes -- take on an enhanced value because of the limited visual information available to her.
Torture imagery
The narrator herself is beaten and starved; however, other prisoners are tortured with electrical shocks or hung upside down and beaten.
Clothing imagery
Besides the blindfold, the prisoners have nothing except the clothes they arrive with. The narrator was arrested without her shoes, so a pair is given to her. Through a gap in her blindfold she notices that one of the decorative flowers on the shoes is missing. Later, she receives the jacket belonging to a fellow prisoner who was severely beaten and taken away. The implication is that he was killed. The jacket provides the narrator with warmth and a small amount of protection against beatings. When the guards wish to torment a prisoner, they force him or her to strip and stand naked. The lack of clothing illustrates the powerlessness and defenselessness of the prisoner.
