Geraldine (Visual Imagery)
When Geraldine is bed-bound following her attack, Joe is struck by how much her physical appearance has changed. He explains that, "She'd become weightless, all jutting bones. Her fingers bit hard into my arms. Her voice was fuzzy, as if she'd just woken." Joe uses strong visual imagery to drive home the point that Geraldine has become a ghost of her former self. The image of the fingers biting into Joe's arms addresses both Geraldine's desperation and Joe's sense of survivor's guilt.
Linda Lark's Childhood Home (Olfactory Imagery)
When Joe realizes that Linda Lark could be a helpful resource in uncovering the details of his mother's crime, he invites her over for ice cream. As she sits at the kitchen table, Linda describes the smell of her childhood home. She explains, "The house we lived in still has a faint smell of rotted wood, onions, fried coot, and the salty smell of unwashed children." Through this olfactory imagery, the reader understands that Linda grew up without much. However, Linda was adopted into a loving home and was able to make a life for herself despite her abandonment by her biological family.
The Overlook (Visual Imagery)
Towards the latter part of the novel, Erdrich uses visual imagery to describe Cappy and Joe on the golf course overlook. In describing the openness and limits of their view, Erdrich foreshadows how this perspective will play a part in planning the murder of Linden Lark.
The Bird Leg (Visual Imagery)
One time, when Joe visits Mooshum, he finds his grandfather entangled in a large piece of bird netting. When Joe helps Mooshum, he notices "a tiny bird's leg, its minute claw still clenched around a strand of plastic webbing." This visual imagery is riddled with symbolism, and it can be interpreted to parallel Joe's situation. Although Joe wishes to fly free like a bird and escape the sadness of his life at home, he has certain responsibilities that he must fulfill that hold him back.
