The Congo
The Congo is a nation in Africa which has a seriously complicated history from its tribal roots, through the rape of Africa by the West, and into the modern day where political unrest still leads to full-out warfare often. In fact, Butcher's journey to that nation to sojourn there was advised against seriously by everyone who knew about it. In addition to surviving the grueling nature of that region, he must also navigate a politically tense and violent nation while being so obviously an outsider.
Threat and danger
The imagery of threat is an abstract experience that humans know from their emotions. That threat of death is made more crystal clear in this book because it relates to genuine threats against the author's health and survival. What are the concrete details of this imagery? They are the myriad crocodiles, big cats, snakes, poisonous bugs, the threats of starvation, madness, exposure, and any of the other number of life-threatening situations which he willingly subjects himself to in the name of adventure.
Adventure as problem-solving
Adventure is a major imagery in the book, because against the backdrop of modern life, agreeing with one's self to randomly fly to a dangerous part of Africa to take a random journey for no explicit purpose—that is random and absurd. Why would anyone willingly lay their life on the line for no gain, only to suffer? Obviously the answer is meaning and glory. Butcher's sense of adventure defines this book in a way no other imagery does. In fact, rarely does the adventurous spirit find such a pure expression of its essence. His flower of adventure is made from petals which are his trials as they are accomplished.
Discomfort and hope
The major threat of the book (besides all those terrifying predators) is actually discomfort and the imagery associated with it. The concrete discomforts described in the book are waves of disappointment that slowly break his will. This is like a karmic test of his resolve, something that he must endure with true patience or else fail, which probably means dying in this case. The discomfort reflects the genuine threat of death, and although the resulting frustration threatens his hope and attitude, his commitment to survival tells him what to do.
