Foreshadowing
Visual imagery is cleverly used in the opening sequence to foreshadow the revelations about the horrific goings-on in Stepford when Joanna spies a neighbor cleaning her windows in a robotically efficient manner. In fact, she doesn’t actually see her neighbor, but rather just a “moving whiteness” making its way from one pane to the next. This imagery foreshadows not just the robotic personality of the Stepford wives, but also their obsession with cleaning house while the lack of defining characteristics and the whiteness of the shape indicate the absence of personality and humanity.
Satirical Allusion
Imagery in the form of allusion is made for the sake of satire and irony when Joanna tries to explain the strangeness of the other women by comparing them to something she saw on television. That something turns out to be the animatronic figures of U.S. Presidents and their jerky, not-quite-human qualities on display at the Hall of Presidents attraction in Disney World. It will eventually be revealed that the creative genius behind the Stepford robots actually worked in the animatronic department at Disney. The irony of a former Disney employee secretly creating sexbots is particularly effective irony.
Carol Van Sant
Carol Van Sant is the first “Stepford Wife” that the reader is introduced to, and the imagery associated her informs us that something is off while hinting at revelations to come. Throughout her initial encounter with Joanna, she is presented as a silhouette rather than fully-fleshed out human and the silhouette is notably described in Joanna’s thoughts as being “naked-seeming.” Carol remains frustratingly distant from Joanna and compulsively obsessed with getting the kitchen floor cleaned. All these elements presented in the image of Carol serve to hint at the horrific truth about robot replacement.
The Tennis Court
Charmaine’s tennis court is the essential imagery associated with the before/after aspect of the robot revolution intended by the men of Stepford. Charmaine is almost obsessed with tennis and very protective of her tennis court. After all, it is something that it rare even among those wealthy enough to have a tennis court on their property: it is a clay court. Joanna takes great notice of this fact when the unbelievable suddenly occurs and Charmaine decides to rip it up so that it can be replaced with a putting green for her husband. This becomes the defining moment for Joanna’s friend Bobbie that something is quite seriously wrong in Stepford because it is the last thing she could ever have imagined occurring.
