The boy in the sorghum fields
The narrator describes his father at the sorghum fields as, ‘That was how Father rushed towards the uncarved granite grave in the bright red sorghum fields of his hometown. A bare- assed little boy once led a white Billy goat to the weed covered grave, and as it grazed in unhurried contentment.’
The narrator has used visual imagery in the description of the sorghum by the use of the adjective red to describe its color. The goat has been described using the adjective white.
The Sky
The narrator describes the sky as, ‘The autumn winds are cold and bleak, the suns rays intense. White clouds, full and round float in the tile-blue sky, casting full round purple shadows onto the sorghum fields shuttled among the sorghum fields to weave a vast human tapestry.’
Visual imagery in the description of the sky has been built by the use of adjectives. These adjectives include full, round and tile-blue to describe the sky and the adjectives purple and round to describe the shadows.
Death
While Father and Commander Yu were walking around the fields, they saw many dead bodies on the ground. The narrator paints a vivid picture of the bodies. They are described as, ‘…through the sorghum were three hundred fellow villagers, heads pillowed on their arms, were strewn across the ground, their fresh blood turning the black earth into a sticky muck that made walking slow and difficult.’ Various adjectives such black to describe the earth have been used to paint the picture of the gruesome scene in the mind of the reader.
The path between the Black Water River and the village
The narrator describes the path as, ‘During the day it had a pale cast, the original black earth, the color of ebony, had been covered by the passage of countless animals; coven hoofprints of mules, horses and donkeys, dried road apples left by horses and donkeys, wormy cow chips and scattered goat pellets like little black beans.’
The narrator has created imagery in the description by the use of adjectives and a simile. The adjectives include adjectives of color such as black and ebony. The simile used is,’…scattered goat pellets like little black beans.’
