Imagery: The rat ("Reapers")
In the poem "Reapers," a sharp scythe cuts a field rat and then continues to reap. The poet writes "I see the blade, / Blood-stained, continue cutting weeds and shade" (7). This is a stunning and sudden image of violence. There is no sugarcoating and no silver lining. The rat is cruelly disposed of by the blade. This unsparing image alludes to the casual violence African Americans in the South endured from the days of slavery right up to the day Toomer wrote his work.
Imagery: Karintha
Karintha is described in vivid, naturalistic terms that impart mystery and allure. She is "perfect as dusk," "a wild flash," "a bit of vivid color like a black bird that flashes in light," and "a whir" (5). She gives birth on the pine needles and is associated with thick, pungent smoke. Her skin is dusky, and her soul is ripe like a fruit.
Imagery: The Hole ("Kabnis")
The Hole—a dank, dark, subterranean space—is a powerful image because it is a space where the characters enact their wishes, desires, fears, and assertions of power in a small confined space. That space is not indicative of the world outside, though: the Southern landscape is a sprawling, violent, and ambiguous place. Father John, as a living embodiment of the past, stays in the Hole. Kabnis tries to talk with him but fails to do so, and returns up the stairs.
Imagery: The Show ("Box Seat")
The penultimate scene of the story is a grinning, grotesque dwarf threateningly offering Muriel a bloody rose that she is forced to take. The disturbing scene is a powerful image of the artifice and thinly-veiled violence of the North. Muriel, a black woman, is under the scrutiny of the dwarf and the community at large, and is pressured to give into something she does not want to.
