Slowly Swallowing the Reed (Visual Imagery)
In the opening chapter of The Dark Child, Camara Laye recounts how, as a small child, he fearlessly fed a reed to a large snake he found outside his father's workshop. Laye writes: "The snake did not try to get away; ... he was slowly swallowing the reed; he was devouring it, I thought, as if it were some delicious prey, his eyes glittering with voluptuous bliss; and inch by inch his head was drawing nearer to my hand." In this example of visual imagery, Laye heightens the tension of the scene by detailing the steadily shrinking distance between himself and the snake as it eats the reed he obliviously feeds it.
Unsavory Smell (Olfactory Imagery)
After the circumcisionist cuts off Laye's foreskin, Laye sheds a lot of blood. The same happens for the boys on either side of him, and none of them has much of an appetite for a feast after the bandages have been applied. Laye writes: "We had seen and lost too much blood—its unsavory smell still seemed to linger in our nostrils." In this example of olfactory imagery, Laye details how the disagreeable scent of the blood the boys lost during the circumcision procedure seems to stay trapped in their noses, making it impossible to smell anything delicious at the ceremonial feast.
A Rainbow Fringe (Visual Imagery)
While living in Guinea's capital, Conakry, Laye is mesmerized by vistas of the sea—never seen from his land-locked hometown. With Marie, he often goes down to the water to sit and watch. Laye writes: "Seen from the shore, the sea is very beautiful—streaked with brilliant colors. It is opaque at the edges, mingling the blue of the sky with the shining green of the coco and palm trees on shore, and fringed with foam—a rainbow fringe." In this example of visual imagery, Laye uses language to recreate the vibrant image shining in his memory. Sparing no detail, he includes the shoreline foam whose slight oil content creates an iridescent sheen.
Bones Were Visible (Visual Imagery)
In the penultimate chapter, Laye details the mysterious illness his friend Check Omar suffers when they are teenagers. Laye and Kouyaté sense something is wrong when Check becomes malnourished-looking and his belly balloons out. Eventually Check goes to the hospital and Laye waits at his bedside. Laye writes: "His face had grown so thin that bones were visible through the skin, but his features were no longer drawn and his lips seemed to smile. Then gradually the pain returned, the lips ceased smiling, and Check awoke. He began to tell us his last wishes." In this example of visual imagery, Laye describes the tragic sight of a fleeting smile appearing on his friend's gaunt face as he accepts the fact he is about to die.
