The imagery of the angling of the sun
The book opens with imagery depicting sight when the author describes the angling of the sun. The author writes, “A tiny sparkle caught Ruth’s eye, a small glint of a refracted sunlight angling out from beneath a massive tangle of drying bull kelp, which the sea had heaved up onto the sand at full tide.”
The ocean
The imagery of the ocean paints a clear picture of human pollution which has endangered water species. For instance, the imagery shows that the ocean is full of plastic waste. Ruth discovered that the ocean is polluted with plastic bags, which contributed greatly to the death of fish. The author writes, "Untangling the whiplike fronds; she dislodged enough to see that what was glistened underneath was not a dying sea jelly, but something plastic, a bag. Not surprising. The ocean was full of plastic."
The imagery of smell
While Ruth was walking along the beach, she discovered a heavier plastic bag than she had expected. Trying to look into the bag, it was rotting. Similarly, Ruth realizes that people die and rot when swept by the waves to the beaches. The narrator says, "Ruth didn’t want to think about what was might be rotting inside the bag. She flung it farther up the beach.”
Imagery of listening
The sound coming from the lunch box depicts the sense of hearing. The author writes, “She held the watch up to hear and listened to the ticking, but it was broken. She put it down and picked up the bright red lunch box.” Consequently, the sound coming arouses readers’ hearing capability.
