Alice In Wonderland
"Crude copies of Tenniel's drawings from 'Alice In Wonderland' decorated one end of Ward Seven, for in peacetime this had been a children's hospital. Alice, tiny enough to swim in a sea of her own tears; Alice, unfolding like a telescope til she was nine feet tall; Alice, grown so large her arm protruded from the window; and, most strikingly, Alice with the serpent's neck, undulating above the trees."
The author paints a graphic and quite disturbing picture of the decoration on the walls of the hospital ward; to children these pictures would seem like colorful recreations of one of their favorite books, but to Rivers, they seems terrifying and even began to haunt him in his dreams as he was chased by grinning Cheshire cats and mad March Hares. The images also mirror the condition of the soldiers on Ward Seven; they used to be just like everyone else, with intact bodies that were in proportion, and minds that could connect proper thought processes. Now, like Alice, they are distorted versions of their former selves, with bodyparts blown away, and feeling like grotesque misrepresentations of themselves. The paintings give us a sad visual image of the soldier's minds and their presence on the walls of Ward Seven seems excessively cruel.
The Dead German
"I used a bayonet I found on a corpse. We were going through a wood, and there had been alot of heavy fighting. I remember the man I took it from, he'd died with an expression of absolute agony on his face. Big man, very dark, lots of blood round his nose, black, covered with flies, a sort of... buzzing moustache. I remember him better than the man I killed."
Geoffrey Wansbeck's description of the dead German soldier in the woods gives both a visual image and also creates the image of the smell that must have been present at the scene, which he was also haunted by in the form of an imagined smell of decomposition everywhere he went. Everything suggests a darkness about it; the blood, dried now, was dark. The man himself was dark, and as rigor mortis set in, he became darker still. There were so many flies on him that they resembled facial hair. He formed an unforgettable image in the mind of Wansbeck and also creates a visual and olfactory image for the reader as well that enables us to understand the horror that sent Wansbeck over the edge.
The Autumn Leaves
"In Westminster, the leaves were already beginning to turn. Not to the brilliant reds and golds of the countryside, but a shabby, tarnished yellow."
This is an interesting visual image that also symbolises the way in which London itself was starting to look like a shabby shell of its former illustrious glory, but in comparison, the countryside had shown no visual or physical effects of the war. Even though any turning of the leaves signifies their end, the vibrant and regal colors of the reds and the golds have a startlingly "alive" appearance and are quite beautiful in their own right. By contrast, the London leaves are now shabby and tarnished, a reflection not only of the way London now appears, but also a reflection of the way the war was viewed by the English people.
Town of Amiens
"The night, the silent guide, the effort of not slipping on broken pavements, sharpened his senses. An overhanging branch of labernum flung a scattering of cold raindrops into his eyes and he was startled by the intensity of his joy. A joy perhaps not unconnected with the ruinous appearance of these houses. Solid, bourgeoise houses they must have been in peacetime, the homes of men making their way in the world, men who had been sure that certain things would never change. And where were they now? Every house in the road was damaged, some ruined. The ruins stood out starkly, black, jagged edges in the white gulf of moonlight."
Amiens was a ghost town and the author describes it with such clarity and detail that the reader is able to form a clear picture of the desolate town very easily. The aspects of the town created by nature - overhanging labernum bushes, raindrops - are still as strong and as vibrant as ever, but the man-made aspects of the town will never be the same. The way that the town now looks is also symbolic of the way in which the soldiers have been affected; some have been damaged, but will be repaired. Others are ruined, and nothing can put them back together the way that they were before the war. More still are gone forever. Like the houses in the moonlight, these men will stand out like jagged silhouettes against the rest of society when the war is over and they are home again, unable to fit in as before. The images painted of both the houses, and the men they represent, is very stark and vivid.
Njiru
"Njiru was deformed. Without the curvature of the spine, he would have been a tall man - by Melenesian standards, very tall - and he carried himself with obvious authority. In addition to the shell necklace he wore earrings, arm rings and bracelets all made out of shells, and somehow it was immediately apparent that these ornaments had great value. His earlobes, elongated by the constant wearing of heavy shells, almost brushed his shoulders when he moved. The eyes were remarkable; hooded, piercing, intelligent, shrewd, wary."
The strength of the image that is created visually of Njiru is in the repetition of the qualities that can be seen in his eyes, and it is the qualities and depth of the eyes that gives the obvious authority that the author mentions. It is very easy with this description for the reader to create a visual picture of the village elder. Clearly the number of pieces of jewelry he is wearing is representative of the level of his authority. The image is also an indication of how basic Melenesia actually was, that it was still firmly moored to its age-old customs and rituals, the only changes being the ones that the "white men" had brought and imposed. The natives of the island are clearly disinterested in the changes and in some cases are suffering because of them. It is also easy to see from the description of Njiru's eyes that he views himself as above the white man's laws and changes, and will carry on governing his people regardless. The image is interesting also because the visual image created could be frightening, but Dr Rivers, although wary, does not seem to have any fear of the man who used to be revered for his skill as a head hunter.
