The Imagery of Nisay
Sang Ly explains, “He ( Nisay) should be talking, watching our lips, listening to us repeat his name, mimicking our words with baby laughs and giggles. Instead, when he’s not fussing, his gaze is hollow and distant. His hair is thin and patchy, his little naked belly protrudes below his skinny ribs as though he’s swallowed a ball, and I feel like a neglectful mother every time I take him out onto the city’s streets. It’s not that we aren’t trying to feed the boy; we beg him to eat. When he does, however, it mostly races through him, flowing out the other end as a never-ending bout of nightmare diarrhea that I scrub off the floor each morning.” Manifestly, Nisay is sick, which has resulted in his poor development. He depicts indicators of stunted growth which hinders him from engaging in activities that are archetypal for children of his age.
The Imagery of the River
Sang Ly expounds, “ I tease we live by a river, but there is truth to my jest. When the rains come, they leach through the rotting trash, causing foul liquids to ooze, mix, and trickle into noxious streams. The waters splash and then dry, leaving ugly, black stains that won’t go away for days. They cause our skin to rash. Mostly they just stink.” Rains degenerate the scenario at the site for they generate lethal streams. The inhabitants are uncovered to ailments due to the effluence that scatters after raining. Actually, the dumping is a health and ecological death-trap due to the contamination and ailments which are ascribed to it. It would be problematic for the inhabitants to dodge the water for their existence is tangled with the dumping spot.
The Imagery of Ki’s injury
Sang Ly recounts, “By early morning, dark circles on the mat beneath Ki’s head form what look like halos in various shades of red and brown. He has slept through the night with a rag held to his wound. But in spite of the hours that have passed, when he sits up, fresh ruby droplets spider down the back of his neck, raining each other across his patchy, jaundiced skin.” Ki’s extensive bleeding demonstrates that his injury is profound. The wound establishes the risks which are innate at the garbage assortment locations. Ki’s life is imperiled during the robbery, since the intention is to steal all his collections. Evidently, the death threat is high at the site.
