Imagery of the watch (“Yellow Card Man”)
The watch is described as “a fine chronograph, ancient, gold and diamonds—Rolex. From an earlier time.” Evidently, the watch is figurative of status based on the fact that is made from gold. Accordingly, putting it on reveals the wearer’s social status.
Imagery of the suit (“Yellow Card Man”)
Tranh’s only suit is credited to ‘Hwang Brothers’. Even the suit was costly now it seems to be oversized for Tranh. Also, the suit is eye-catching based on the attention that it draws from people.
The Imagery of Monsters (“Yellow Card Man”)
“The Kingdom is infested with plagues and beasts, besieged by so many bioengineered monsters that it cannot keep up.” Even though the monsters were formed using artificial bioengineering processes, they take over the kingdom like natural creatures would. The term infested stresses the aggressive capacity of the monsters.
The Imagery of Tranh (“Yellow Card Man”)
When Ma runs into Tranh he tells him, “You look like a wire-frame mannequin at Palawan Plaza." Ma’s mockery has undertones of retribution. The term wire-frame starts the imagery of a famished and underweight man.
The Imagery of Miriam (“The Fluted Girl”)
Paolo Bacigalupi explains, “Miriam had grown, her breasts burgeoning, her hips widening, her rosy face smiling and laughing at her fortune. When they both came to Belari, the fluted girl and Miriam had been the same height. Now, Miriam was a grown woman, a full two feet taller than the fluted girl, and filled out to please a man.” Paolo Bacigalupi portrays Miriam as a woman. The portrayal is a contrast to that of the fluted girls. The flute girls’ blooming, through the years, has been hampered by the procedures that inhibit with their hormones and typical growth process.
The Imagery of Nia and Lidia’s bodies (“The Fluted Girl”)
Paolo Bacigalupi explains, “Lidia turned away from her black-eyed sister. Of their original features, little remained. Belari had watched them grow in the castle for two years and then the pills began. Revitia treatments at thirteen froze their features in the matrix of youth. Then had come the eyes, drawn from twins in some far foreign land.” Bacigalupi creates the imagery of friable girls whose natural bodies have been altered extremely. The color of their eyes has been transformed too which means that their natural bodies have been displaced by artificial bodies. Furthermore, the inclusion of ‘Revitia treatments’ makes the reader to create images of paleness and insubstantiality (they could without difficulty break their bones) of the girls.
Nia and Lidia’s performance (“The Fluted Girl”)
Nia and Lidia’s presentation is sexual. Paolo Bacigalupi observes, “Nia's mouth crept up Lidia's arm. Notes spilled out of Lidia as bright as water jewels. Laments of desire and sin flowed from Nia's pores. Their embraces became more frenzied, a choreography of lust. The spectators pressed closer, incited by the spectacle of naked youth and music intertwined.” The sexual dance movements which are attributed to five-years of classic training and conditioning are meant to appeal to Belari’s wealthy guests. The young girls are conditioned to act like lesbians even though they are biological sisters.
