Smelling Like Formaldehyde & Alcohol Wipes (Olfactory Imagery)
Early in Me (Moth), Moth describes the tragic car crash that resulted in her parents' and brother's deaths. Moth comments: "All of our beaten bodies made it to the haunted hospital overrun with figures in white, smelling like formaldehyde & alcohol wipes." In this example of olfactory imagery, Moth injects realism into the narrative by detailing the unpleasant medical scents of products at the hospital to which paramedics rushed her and her family after the collision.
Howling Through Feather-Thin Cracks (Auditory Imagery)
Soon after Aunt Jack leaves Moth on her own, a thunderstorm erupts over Moth's neighborhood. She says: "Thunder rattles the house, plucking at the screens, howling through feather-thin cracks." In this example of auditory imagery, Moth describes the howling sound the wind makes as it blows through every tiny gap in the house's exterior. Her highlighting of this otherworldly enhances the frightening atmosphere the storm brings about.
Hands Plunge Wrist-Deep Into the Damp Soil (Visual Imagery)
When recalling her grandfather, Moth looks back on a day when she accompanied him to a graveyard near Nashville. She details how he reaches into the soil beneath a willow tree: "His hands plunge wrist-deep into the damp soil beneath a willow that weeps for our ancestors—with our ancestors. We are in a sacred place, our feet cradled in powerful dirt." In this example of visual imagery, Moth establishes the site where Grandfather casts a Hoodoo spell. Later in the novel, she and Sani will return to the site to reach again into the same damp soil.
Basketballs Hitting Pavement (Auditory Imagery)
When explaining how she came to live in a dull Virginia suburb with her aunt, Moth contrasts the area with where she used to live in New York: "Two Septembers ago, I started here, at this school in the suburbs. Away from the smell of city fuel, where basketballs hitting pavement are as numerous as the sound of crickets in the country." In an example of auditory imagery, Moth brings attention to the vibrant street life of her former community by speaking of the common sound of balls being bounced on the pavement. By contrast, her new neighborhood is characterized by the natural sounds of crickets.
