Serious Face (Visual Imagery)
At the beginning of the novel, Raphael finds a wallet inside a pouch while sorting through a new load of trash. Alongside José Angelico's ID card are personal items: "Two little photos of a girl in school dress. Hard to say how old, but I reckoned seven or eight, with long dark hair and beautiful eyes. Serious face, like Gardo’s—as if no one had told her to smile." In this example of visual imagery, Mulligan introduces Pia Dante through a description of how she looks in her school portraits. The simple but clear details accumulate to create a mental image in the reader's mind, immersing the reader in Raphael's point of view as he makes sense of what he has found.
Smell of Old Food, Sweat and Urine (Olfactory Imagery)
When Olivia and Gardo visit Gabriel Olondriz in prison, they walk past the rows of cells. The sight of so many desperate people reaching through the bars shocks Olivia, but it is not only her eyes that take in the surroundings. She says, "I had no sense of direction any more: all I could see was faces and hands waving. Man then child. Young man, then older man, then child again—thin bodies, glistening with sweat. Almost everyone in shorts only, and a smell of old food, sweat and urine." In this example of olfactory imagery, Mulligan invites the reader to imagine the horrific conditions inside the prison by detailing the stench of so many bodies cramped into cells.
Battering and Hammering (Auditory Imagery)
When the police arrive at the boys' hideout, one of them pretends to be a relative of Gardo's to lure the boys down. But Rat knows it's a ruse, and he wakes the others so they can quietly escape through the roof hatch. Rat knows he is right because of what he hears next: "Then down below we heard battering and hammering on doors, and we knew the police were moving. Right at once we heard feet running, we heard shouting—we could hear big dogs, and engines were revving." In this example of auditory imagery, the silence and anticipation are broken by the sudden sounds of commotion as the police kick into action below.
Smelling of Rum (Olfactory Imagery)
After the boys get Gabriel's Bible from the prison guard, they return to their hideout and begin decoding José's message. Rat, who cannot read, goes out to bring back food and alcohol. Raphael says, "Rat came back smelling of rum, with a nip for each of us." In this example of olfactory imagery, Mulligan has Raphael comment on the alcoholic scent Rat emanates to imply that Rat was drinking while away—a fact he cannot hide from the others because the evidence is on his breath.
