Description of the Railway Station at Auschwitz
The narrator describes the station where the Jews would be brought to as, ‘ A cheerful little station, very much like any other provincial railway stop. A small square framed by tall chestnuts and paved with yellow gravel. Not far off, beside the road, squats a tiny wooden shed, uglier and more flimsier than the ugliest and flimsiest railway shack…’ This description contains visual imagery.
The imagery in the description of the railway station has been built by the use of descriptive words such as ‘uglier’ and ‘flimsier’. Furthermore, adjectives such as ‘tall’ and ‘square’ add visual imagery to the description.
The Commandant of the Frauen Konzentretation Lager – the female concentration camp
The narrator describes the commandant as, ‘ Among them there is a woman – only now do I realize she has been here all along-withered, flat chested, bony, her thin colorless hair pulled back and tied in a ‘Nordic’ knot; her hands are in the pockets of her wide skirt.’ The description of the commandant creates visual imagery. The imagery makes the reader be able to visualize the physical appearance of the commandant.
The imagery in the description of the commandant is built by the use of adjectives to describe her physical appearance. These adjectives are ‘ thin’ and ‘colorless’ to describe her hair and ‘wide’ to describe the size of her skirt.
The New Arrivals of Auschwitz
The narrator described them as, ‘… slowly, terribly slowly, a train rolls in, weary pale faces at the windows, flat as though cut out from paper, with huge feverishly burning eyes. Already trucks are pulling up…’ The description in this narration created visual imagery for the sad faces of the new arrivals can be visualized in the mind of the reader.
The imagery in the description has been built by the use of adjectives to describe the people who were arriving at Auschwitz. The adjectives include ‘ pale’ and ‘flat’.
The description of a girl who was curious about Auschwitz
One of the girls who had recently arrived at Auschwitz goes to the narrator to inquire about what would happen to her. The narrator described her as, ‘And suddenly, above the teeming crowd pushing forward like a river driven by an unseen power, a girl appears. She descends lightly from the train, hops onto the ground, looks around inquiringly as if somewhat surprised. Her soft blonde hair had fallen in her shoulders in a torrent.’
The imagery in the description of the girl is visual imagery. This is because the narrator has used adjectives such as ‘blonde ‘ and ‘soft’ to describe the girl’s hair.
