Death-Speak
The narrator asserts, “Sitting on a simple black metal folding chair, just a thin black pillow between her and the seat, Orkideh looked a little like a sculpture she herself might have made earlier in her career. The single standing lamp in the corner of the gallery room cast a hard shadow against the wall behind her, where the soft round shape of her hairless skull arced over the narrowing angles of her jaw and neck like a divining crystal dangling from an invisible string." This passage encapsulates Orkideh’s fragile existence as an artist in her final moments. Its vividness comes through the lighting, which transforms her body into something otherworldly. The contrast between the soft light and the hard shadow speaks of her impending death, lending the scene a surreal and contemplative quality. Her skull is likened to a "divining crystal" further deepening the emotional weight of the scene as she waits for death amidst her final installation.
The Endless Sky
In this passage, an ethereal landscape viewed from an airplane captures a moment of stillness in contrast to the chaos beneath. "The sun, blistering pink around its edges. Clouds beneath her like a thin cloth drawn over cooling milk. Beneath that, ocean. Blues and blues and blues." The imagery transforms natural elements—the sun, clouds, and ocean—into delicate and painterly strokes. The clouds are compared to “cooling milk” emphasizing their softness, while the “blues and blues and blues” of the ocean suggest an overwhelming vastness. The use of color and texture here helps readers feel the protagonist’s momentary escape from the turmoil on the ground.
The Healing Femur
The following visual image of a healed femur as a symbol of human compassion and the origin of civilization stands out as powerful: "A human femur—discovered in Madagascar—that showed signs of having healed from a bad fracture. In the animal world, a broken leg meant you starved, so a healed femur meant that some human had supported another’s long recovery, fed them, cleaned the wound. And thus, the author argued, began civilization." The healed bone evokes thoughts of vulnerability, recovery, and the communal bond necessary for survival. It is a striking image because it contrasts brutality with care, which serves g as a meditation on what it means to be human.
Garnet and Emerald Stars
The night sky is painted here with luxurious and vibrant colors, transforming the stars into precious gemstones: "The stars above them were glistening Technicolor: garnets and emeralds and sapphires, fat jewels set in the night’s crown." This extravagant vision of the heavens heightens the scene’s emotional resonance. It suggests that the universe itself bears witness to the events below. The metaphor of the stars as a “crown” gives the impression that they adorn the night with a regal and divine presence. The use of “fat jewels” conveys richness and a sense of abundance.
