Opening Lines
The opening lines of this story immediately hook the reader through the use of imagery. "A child woke up in the dark. She seemed to swim up into consciousness as if to a surface which she then broke through, looking around with her eyes open. At first the darkness was implacable." This imagery connects to the title to situate the sensation of waking from a dream state. The use of the metaphor of swimming to the brighter surface from the darker depths of water is one which establishes both a familiarity and invokes a sense of dread.
Gothic
The story takes place in a large Victorian house, but imagery is used to endow it with a gothic atmosphere. A passage describes, somewhat remarkably, the child's first actual encounter with moonlight. "It made the lampshade of Spanish wrought iron, which had always hung from a chain in the hallway, seem suddenly as barbaric as a cage or a portcullis in a castle." This immediately is at odds with the previous descriptions of the Victorian home. Suddenly, seen in the shadowy mysteries afforded by moonlight, the decor throws the atmosphere back in time, across space, and into a more traditional gothic setting for horror.
The Break-In
Someone seems to have broken into the lounge of the house and the reaction of the child's mother is made more visceral through the use of imagery. "The sight of the chairs thrown about was as extreme as a hand clapped over her mouth from behind. The violence was worse because it was frozen in silence – had lain in wait, gloating." The shock and surprise of coming upon this scene is framed as a physical assault against the character herself. The description of the act of seeing the aftermath of the supposed break-in transforms it into an act that is happening in real time.
Childhood
The story is split into two parts. One focuses on the little girl and her dream and the other focuses on her mom traversing through the house at night. The story ends with the mother looking at daughter early the next morning. "The girl was sitting on the edge of her brother’s bunk, trying to pull on her knee-length socks with one hand while she held a book open in front of her eyes with the other...One white sock was twisted around her leg with its dirty heel sticking out at the front." This use of imagery is purposely understated. It is designed to bring the story back to mundane reality from the dreamlike atmosphere which makes up the bulk of the tale.
