The imagery of the courthouse
The author introduces the courthouse by describing its environs, creating a scene that aids the reader in visualizing its surroundings. Similarly, the sense of sight is depicted to the reader when Desqueyroux sees her father emerge from under the tree. The author writes, "Standing in the obscure courthouse corridor, Thérèse Desqueyroux felt the fog on her face, and she breathed it in deeply. She hesitated, afraid of who might be waiting for her. A man with his collar turned up emerged from a plane tree; she saw it was her father.”
The imagery of the two men
The lawyer and Thérèse look at her, standing motionless, knowing that she is confused since her case has been terminated by lack of evidence. She is surprised to learn that she is going back home, but she is unsure what is awaiting her. The author writes, "Now the two men looked at the young woman-standing motionless, wrapped tightly in her raincoat – at her pale, expressionless face.”
Imagery of hearing
The sense of hearing is depicted to readers when Thérèse is walking behind her father and the lawyer. The two are having a conversation, and they are talking as if Thérèse is not with them. Thérèse steps back to follow them from a distance because they seem disinterested in her. The author writes, “Thérèse walked behind the two men, who again began conversing as if she weren't there; instead, as if inconvenienced by this woman walking between them, they jostled her with their elbows. So, she began to walk a little behind them, removing her left glove to ran her hand along with the moss on the old stone walls."
The imagery of smell
The author writes, “But the dusk concealed Thérèse, preventing people from recognizing her. The smells, of a bakery, of the fog, were no longer simply the odors of the evening in her small town: now they were the scent of life itself, the life that had been given back to her." Consequently, the sense of smell is depicted when Thérèse feels the aroma coming from the bakery.
