Torture
One of the most effective examples of imagery in the book is also its most horrific. Almost like a scene from a torture-porn horror film, the narrator describes her mother’s descent down a corridor that is a genuine, factual chamber of terror display:
“His hair hung down in a tangled mess...On the floor was a brazier, with a man sitting beside it casually smoking a cigarette…he lifted an iron bar out of the fire; the tip was the size of a man’s fist and was glowing red-hot…plunged it into the chest of the man hanging from the beam. My mother heard a sharp scream of pain…horrible sizzling sound…smoke coming from the wound…the heavy odor of burned flesh.”
The Maid
The introduction of a new family maid provides opportunity for imagery which reveals how fashion often defines national politics, not just personal style. In addition to revealing the difference between the though processes of those in the know and the outsider, the description also provides psychological insight into the personality of the teenage girl:
“she was wearing a flower-patterned cotton top and slacks, which city dwellers, who wore quiet colors…would have regarded as rather garish…traditional peasant-style garb, buttoned at the side, with cotton buttons instead of the new plastic ones. Instead of a belt, she used a cotton string to tie up her trousers. Many peasant women coming to town would have changed their attire so as not to look like country bumpkins. But she was completely unselfconscious about her clothes, which showed her strength of character.”
Bound Feet
One of the strangest cultural customs in the entire history of the world to many in the west is the tradition of bound feet among females in China. It is for some a custom that just absolutely defies any attempt to apply logic. This perspective is no way undone by the imagery used to describe the process as detailed by the author:
“Her mother…first wound a piece of white cloth about twenty feet long round her feet, bending all the toes except the big toe inward and under the sole. Then she placed a large stone on top to crush the arch. My grandmother screamed in agony and begged her to stop. Her mother had to stick a cloth into her mouth to gag her. My grandmother passed out repeatedly from the pain. The process lasted several years. Even after the bones had been broken, the feet had to be bound day and night in thick cloth because the moment they were released they would try to recover.”
When Life was Good
In a case approaching nearly the exact opposite of the description of torture witnessed by the narrator’s mother, the narrator herself captures the feeling of good times by turning to softer images combining an assortment of sensory details. Writing of time spent living in a compound with a garden dominated by magnificent specimens like magnolia, camellias and hibiscus, the scene is brought vividly to life by engaging the reader’s sense of touch, smell, and sight:
“a pair of rare Chinese aspens…intertwined their arms, like lovers…If we scratched one of the trunks even ever so gently the two trees would tremble and their leaves would start to flutter…I would sit on a drum-shaped stone stool under a trellis of wisteria, my elbows resting on a stone table...Around me were the blazing colors of the grounds and not far away a rare coconut tree thrust arrogantly into the sky... heavily scented jasmine, also climbing on a big trellis. When it was in blossom, my room was filled with its fragrance. I loved to sit by the window gazing at it and soaking up the delicious smell.”
