Horace's Sounds (Auditory Imagery)
When Kenny Blumenfeld has a tantrum about Horace spreading polio on the playground, he begins swatting at him with a baseball mitt. Kenny's action agitates Horace, and he begins "emitting a kind of radio signal from high in the back of his throat; a thin, oscillating sound of distress." Roth's use of auditory imagery conveys the "otherworldly" disruption that Horace causes among the Weequahic community. Moreover, it exemplifies the pattern of Horace's characterization as a "beastly creature." Horace's condition is met with ostracism and brashness from the neighborhood, which makes him an easy scapegoat for the polio epidemic.
Fabyan Place (Visual Imagery)
The narrator uses detailed visual imagery to describe Fabyan Place, a street in Newark that neighbors the Chancellor Avenue School. He explains that the street is lined with "two-and-a-half-story frame houses fronted by red-brick stoops and hedged-in tiny yards." This visual imagery clearly depicts the cookie-cutter suburban community that Bucky is a part of. This backdrop is important because it allows the reader to better understand Bucky's feelings of alienation and ostracism. Bucky's insecurity is propelled by his untraditional family and his inability to serve in the war. It becomes clear that these factors prevent the protagonist from fitting into his homogenous community.
Mr. Michaels (Visual Imagery)
When Bucky visits Mr. Michaels to pay his respects, he is struck by his physical appearance. The narrator explains the father's harrowing features, particularly noting "the stained skin beneath his eyes looked black, as if it had been imprinted in ink with twin symbols of mourning." Mr. Michaels affixes pieces of dark fabric to his face in accordance with the Jewish tradition for mourning. In this scene, the motif of darkness symbolizes death and tragedy. The ink-like impression indicates the permanent grief that accompanies losing a child.
The Weequahic Community (Visual Imagery)
One afternoon, as Bucky walks home from the playground, he comments on the neighborhood scene. He affectionately observes kids playing hopscotch, people on stoops listening to the radio, and families camped out on fire escapes. This lively scene creates an image of everyday life in the working-class neighborhood of Weequahic. This environment represents a fleeting moment in time, before polio ravages the community. In a few weeks' time, the people in Weequahic grow paranoid and skeptical of their own neighbors.
