Gathering plants imagery
The novel opens with an image of Marie Ursule gathering plants, which are here called "poisons." She is described as gathering them "the way anyone else might gather flowers, the way one gathers scents or small wishes and fondnesses." She describes the "fiercely beautiful flower," and the "waxiness" of the leaves, painting a picture of the scene.
Heaviness imagery
Brand uses imagery to describe Marie Ursule's hopelessness, as she struggles with her life as a slave. For example, one morning Marie Ursule is unable to motivate herself to get out of bed:
"Marie Ursule woke up this morning knowing what morning it was. Her flesh felt heavy. She could not get it off the board. It was as if her body was tied taut across the wood house like a hammock."
Here, the use of words like "heavy" emphasizes the emotional weight Marie Ursule suffers beneath. Additionally, by describing her body as "it," Brand creates a distance between Marie Ursule and her own body, suggesting she is not in control of it.
Marie Ursule's surroundings
Brand uses beautiful imagery to describe Marie Ursule's surroundings, saying that "she waited for evenings like a lover waits, wanting soft light to embrace her. She looked over the ranges of cocoa trees, their green and red leaves young and old with longing." Overall, this scene has a romantic but yearning tone, suggesting Marie Ursule's lack of fulfillment in her life and her desire for her circumstances to change.
