The imagery of Chinitas followers hustling and bustling
"Chinitas and camp followers hustled and bustled among the serried ranks, ferreted for a plug of tobacco amid the coins and crumbs in their pouches, or found a copper for the keeper of the harem. A brightly colored globe burnished the sky-blue turquoise as purple shadows invaded the monastery’s barren grounds. Some of the troops, Comaltec Indians from the depths of the jungle, looked up."
In this particular description, the reader is able to mentally visualize Chinita's followers as they bustle and hustle among the crowded ranks who seem to be deeply engrossed in searching for a plug of tobacco in between coins and crumbs in their pouches. Additionally, the reader can imagine the " brightly colored globe" as it "burnished the sky-blue turquoise as purple shadows invaded the monastery’s barren grounds."
The imagery of the Generalito
In his description of the Generalito and his coca-chewing habits that he had picked up from his time after waging war against the Spanish, the writer presents the way in which drool flowed from the corners of his mouth, a situation that enhances the creation of an image of the Generalito with drool flowing on his face in the reader's mind: "He had waged war against the Spanish in Peru and he still had the coca-chewing habit he’d picked up during that campaign. Green venomous drool forever flowed from the corners of his mouth. Like a sacred raven, vigilant and still in his distant window, he reviewed his Indian squadrons, melancholy in their cruel indifference to pain and death."
The image of the marching soldiers through the monkish baronial hall, and the major
As the writer introduces the marching soldiers through the monkish baronial hall, their imagery and in particular, the image of the unkempt bum with face dripping blood becomes apparent. The writer goes on to introduce the image of Major Abilio del Valle as he leads the way. His image is updated to a vision of a man with a "jet-black doodle mustache" deeply contrasted with his white teeth. The attention to detail in presentation of the major plays a role in promoting imagery and enhancing the story. The description is as: "Holding bayonets rising from black rifles, soldiers marched through the monkish baronial hall escorting an unkempt bum whose face dripped blood. On the right flank, leading the way, Major Abilio del Valle’s saber sliced the air. The jet-black doodle of his mustache stood in violent contrast to his white teeth wolfishly clenching the chinstrap of his broad-brimmed, silverribboned sombrero."
The imagery of the corporals, the prisoner and the subsequent whipping of the prisoner
After the squad halts, the imagery of the events that follow is enhanced by the narrator's detailed attention to detail. Two corporals can be seen stepping forward from the rest of the squad. Their image in the reader's subconscious is then updated by the description: "cowhide lashes strapped sash-like under metal rings across their chests." Then, as they strip the blankets off the prisoner. The imagery of the prisoners naked in the sun and the whipping that follows becomes increasingly relentless. The narrator describes the whole scene as:
"The squad stood to attention and peered up at the monastery windows. Two corporals stepped forward, cowhide lashes strapped sash-like under metal rings across their chests, and stripped off the filthy blanket covering the prisoner’s flesh. Submissive, speechless, back stark naked in the sun, his coppery body slid into the hole, a yard deep as stipulated in the Ordinances for Military Punishment. The two corporals threw some earth in after him and trampled it down, burying him up to his quivering shanks. His naked torso, straggling hair, and fettered hands stuck, dark and dramatic, out of the hole: he rested his goatee on his chest and watched warily as the corporals unfurled their cowhide lashes. The drumbeat thudded and the whipping began, the classic barracks punishment: “One! Two! Three!”
