Imagery of the Wild
Eudora Welty shows large-scale adventure through a plot with fanciful characters; in order to do so, she creates a sense of the wild using imagery. This allows the hidden groups of bandits to remain hidden and allows Rosamond to understand her environment more than other characters, such as Salome. The imagery also shows how difficult the tasks assigned to Rosamond are to complete.
Imagery of New Orleans
The novel ends with a striking portrait of New Orleans as a gleaming city, and the imagery employed to do so helps conclude the dramatic surrealism of the novel. Through her detailed portrayal of the city, Welty emphasizes the importance of the earlier representation of the Natchez Trace and shows how the Mississippi scenery is a thing in itself.
Imagery of Home
Welty begins the novel with a hotel scene and ends it with another travel scene. The home in which Rosamond lives is distorted by the presence of her stepmother, and the tale of Clement's life features the concept of home heavily. The imagery of Rosamond's home complements the imagery of the bandits' abode, and her time with bandits shows Rosamond details of her own home.
Imagery of Grime
Jamie Lockhart does not notice Rosamond beneath the layer of grime she acquires when preparing the home for a visitor according to Salome's direction. Eudora Welty's decision to show the grittiness of this side of the event helps the reader believe that Rosamond would be unrecognizable during the performance of her job, and it helps enhance the sense of Salome as an envious stepmother who wishes to be more beautiful than anyone else in her household.
