Stray cat
The book commences with sight imagery enabling readers to see Justine's hobby of feeding a stray cat. The narrator writes, "When Lula stepped into the yard, the stray cat Justine held took off so fast it scratched her and sent the porch swing sideways. Justine had been feeding the stray, hoping to find its litter of kittens despite the mother's disdain for extra mouths or creature prone to parasites." Justine's mother is not amused with Justine's love for stray cats, but she insists on keeping the cat and looking for its kittens.
Imagery of photographs
Justine looks at her mother's childhood photos, which paints a clear picture of Lula's early days. The narrator writes, "As a girl, Justine had pored over the pictures from Lula’s time at Chilocco Indian School, trying to see her mother in the stone-cold fox who stared out from the old photographs. Lula's clothes hung loosely, even more, faded than the other girls in the pictures, but something about her gaze-framed by short black curls, of all things, made it seems as if she were the only one in the photo.”
Hearing imagery
Hearing imagery is depicted when Justine hears a horn and looks outside to realize that her father has come home with strangers. The narrator writes, “When Justine heard tow honks from the bighorn, she looked around the empty house and felt a sorrow she couldn't explain. She brushed off the hungry cat and climbed into a running Lincoln with whitewall tires, her father a stranger in a car full of strangers."
