Sweat Popped Out On the Boy's Face (Visual Imagery)
After Mrs. Jones threatens Roger and begins dragging him up the street, Roger panics. Hughes illustrates the moment with an example of visual imagery: "Sweat popped out on the boy’s face and he began to struggle." In this image, the panic Roger feels is represented visually by the sweat coming from his forehead and his bodily struggle to free himself.
Other Roomers Laughing and Talking (Auditory Imagery)
Upon reaching her home, Mrs. Jones turns the light on in her room, which is in a large rooming house. Roger understands that there are other people around because he can "hear other roomers laughing and talking in the large house." In this example of auditory imagery, Hughes uses the ambient sound of the large house to immerse the reader in Roger's point of view.
Went Behind the Screen (Visual Imagery)
After he washes his face as Mrs. Jones commands, Roger is left on his own in her large room. Hughes writes: "In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs. Jones got up and went behind the screen." In this example of visual imagery, Hughes illustrates how Mrs. Jones trusts Roger enough to obscure her view of him, and thus leave him with the temptation of stealing her purse and running away out the open door.
