A Cool Encounter
This imagery focuses on the clarity and perfection of ice. The narrator says, "Not cloudy. Not smoky. Not gray. Flawless. No bubbles or cracks or lines. Bridget drew an awl from her apron and gripped it in reverse and began stabbing at the block with a sturdy, steady strength that reminded Ethan of the girls and women on Apple Island. Glistening ice chips are piled on the cloth. A film of water formed on top of the block and spittered with each nick of the awl. The cloth beneath the ice darkened with water." It is described in intricate detail to illustrate the flawless and translucent appearance. The excerpt takes place during an interaction between Ethan and Bridget in Enon. This encounter offers a glimpse into Ethan's perspective as he navigates unfamiliar territory and understands its ways.
Honeys' Shack
The narrator states, "Matthew Diamond sits across from Eha Honey at the single table in the Honeys’ shack, waiting for an answer. Eha made the stools the men sit on and the table between them. Esther Honey sits in her rocking chair a few feet away. Eha wears his usual loose overalls, which are covered in sawdust, stiff with pine sap and patterned with white crystalline blossoms of salt from the soaking and drying and soaking again of his sweat and ocean water and the long, coarse, colorless shirt he sleeps in every night." This imagery sets the scene for a significant meeting between Matthew Diamond and the Honeys. The passage describes the physical surroundings emphasizing the labor-intensive life on the island. It also indicates the tension in the room as they grapple with the decision to send Ethan away for his betterment.
In the Embrace of Silence
In the following passage, the narrator describes a moment of heightened awareness between Ethan and Bridget. He narrates, "Ethan sat in the barn door and Bridget stood among the bare clotheslines, in the last light, silent, listening to one another’s suddenly meaningful silence, the house separating them, each so suddenly aware of and concentrated on the other that they may as well have been standing face to face, the distance, the yard, the house, the overhanging dark, the first stars plinking on above, everything between and beyond them as if it were removed and each the only body or soul the other knew in the world." The fading light creates a tranquil setting, which accentuates the significance of their unspoken connection. Consequently, the proximity portrays their shared understanding that transcends physical space.
Morning Agony
This imagery portrays the morning after a sunburn as it focuses on Ethan's pain and discomfort. The narrator asserts, "Eha rose from his sleep and looked at his sun-poisoned son sleeping on a pallet on the floor with his sisters. Ethan was awake and heard his father shifting himself and rising off his bed, the floorboards taking his weight, the one-room shack distributing his weight throughout its joints and beams. He opened his eyes and the burns on his back seemed to flare afresh…Chills swept over his back and shoulders and up his neck. Sweat popped from the pores of his face and brow and felt freezing for breaking over the hot skillet of his skin." The vivid description of Ethan's burns brings the reader into the experience of his suffering. This imagery also sets the scene in a one-room shack emphasizing the cramped living conditions.
