Shriek of a tree
Klausner from "The Sound Machine" is very disturbed by the sound he heard from the tree after he struck it with an axe. He describes it as an enormous and frightful shriek that made him sick with horror. He immediately compares it to sound a human would make if struck the same way in the leg with the weapon stuck there. When he makes a second strike later to prove to the doctor that his machine is working he feels the root of the tree shifting, almost as if it's trying to escape.
Memory
Claud goes to his neighbor Rummins to convince him that his rick is infested with rats. Claud suddenly gets an image of a memory that disturbs him. He finds himself traveling back in many weeks to the yellow days of summer, the warm blowing, big breech trees heavy, the fields turning gold, the harvesting, the haymaking and the building of the rick. There is a disturbing image with the building of the rick that will soon be refreshed in Claud's memory after some of the hay's been lifted.
The big white face
Arthur describes his wife mostly with images of her big white face. The big white face is strange and fascinating to him at once, and he can hardly bring himself to look away from it. The face would tighten and glimmer when concentrated, and at the moment of irritation with him it has a compressed acid look with the frowning forehead that gives her a majestic look. Arthur is intimidated and in awe with his tall and stately wife and can help but listen to her as a servant.
Body grotesque
The author uses images of bodily grotesqueness in quite a few of the stories to disturb and fascinate the reader at the same time. In the "Man from the South" the gambler's wife enters the hotel room telling them the truth about the gambler and the story ends with the image of her hand missing most of the fingers after losing quite a few gambles to him. The story "Skin" tells a story of a man who literally loses his skin because it contains art from the famous artist. In the "Neck" the reader is left sympathizing with the narrator who can't look away from the scene of the lady having her neck stuck in a sculpture and her husband using an axe to free her, which doesn't end well for her.
