Visual imagery-trees
Despite the descriptions of the setting of a post-apocalyptic world being few, with most of the focus on the psychological aspect of the novella, there are some instances of visual imagery to build the destructed world. Such instance is the image of trees growing sideways to reach the light, to create the picture of a disrupted and mutated world. “[They did not show the way the trees had took to growing sideways, looking for the light, or hung with fat so black and bulged the limbs bent, weak.]
Mutated images with fractions of language
The novella is filled with strange disrupted images, some being overlapped with fragmented phrases and sentences. Upon further observation it is clear that the images contain pieces of everyday life, of parts of the house, but which were disrupted and damaged-mutated to go along with the setting of a diseased and mutated world.
Watching the world through the TV
The protagonist describes watching a broadcast on the TV which showed images of the chaos and men being completely smeared by the strange force. She describes how the broadcast went to blackness and then her attention was shifted to the breakfast she was eating. This image of the lack of empathy for the others’ sufferings while watching it from the safety of the home conveys a deeper message and provides a criticism of reality.
Taking a bath
Probably one of the most visually charged scene of the novella is when the protagonist is taking a bath and tasting the layers of skin and age, seeing her body fall apart and merge with others. “[My skin pooled in the bathwater, sizzling a little, sinking in.]]” It is a visceral representation of claustrophobia and confinement.
