The imagery of aggression
In the company of her friends, Yamaye goes to a nightclub. In the club, Yamaye describes the men there to paint a picture of aggression. Yamaye says, “Smoke’s taken over, thickening, choking me. And I wonder why I attract these kinda men, who are just like my father. Men who strike fear in people just by the way they stand. Skewering the silence with their stairs.” The imagery depicts male violence in society. Yamaye’s father is aggressive, and she compares him to the men she sees at the nightclub.
Smell
The sense of smell is depicted when the narrator says, “I smell Irving’s roll-up, the mush of loamy tropical earth. He’s in the kitchen, sitting at the table reading the Caribbean News, scratching his metal-shavings-picky hair.” Yamaye can sense the presence of her father without even seeing him using the sense of smell. Yamaye is always scared of her father because he is strict and controlling. Therefore, Yamaye has mastered using her senses to detect the presence of her father from a distance.
The description of Yamaye’s friends
Yamaye’s description of her friends shows readers the kind of people she associates with. Yamaye says, “Asase is the oldest, twenty-five, a year older than Rumer and me. Rumer is nothing like her red-haired Irish family. My gyal is dance-taut, tall with a rubber-ribbed belly – androgynous. Blonde, she dies her hair Obsidian Black and stuffs it underneath a knitted red-gold-green Rasta cap." Yamaye hangs out with people of the same age group, and the imagery shows that she loves partying and looking elegant.
