Looking into a well
The author very vividly describes the scene when Ada looks into a well through the mirror in order to find out something about her destiny. First she sees only the sky which is reflected in the water. “She was dazzled by light and shade, by the confusing duplication of reflections and of frames.” But suddenly she sees an image there, a moving figure. The description of the moment is so bright, that the reader seems to see this picture by himself. Thus the author highlights the importance of this scene for the Ada, in particular for her future life.
Coming back to childhood
Inman’s memories about his childhood are depicted brightly: “all that kept his mind occupied had been watching out the window and picturing the old green places he recollected from home. Childhood places. The damp creek bank where Indian pipes grew. The corner of a meadow favored by brown-and-black caterpillars in the fall.” Thus the author shows how deeply Inman appreciates his memories, how valuable they’re for him. He doesn’t forget the details, which seem to be not important, but he keeps them in his mind carefully.
The battle near Fredericksburg
Inman describes this battle, when the blind man asks him to tell about the war. This battle left a terrible trace in Inman’s memory. He describes every moment and detail of that battle, it’s “mood”. Especially bright are the last moments of it: “When he was squatted down loading, Inman could hear the firing, but also the slap of balls into meat. A man near Inman grew so excited, or perhaps so weary, that he forgot to pull the ramrod from the barrel. He fired it off and it struck a Federal in the chest. The man fell backward, and the rod stood from his body and quavered about with the last of his breathing as if he had been pierced by an unfletched arrow.” The author makes the reader feel that atmosphere of odiousness and awfulness, which Inman lived through.
