Time and age
The first obvious use of imagery comes in the appearance of Eileen. She is an elderly woman reflecting on her life. This invokes the imagery of time, the passage of time, the strangeness of aging and death, and the ultimate question of life's meaning. The question of life's meaning is the main thought behind the novel itself, because Eileen is only reflecting on the narrative of her youth to see the narrative for its meaning. It is the story of how Eileen established her identity in the midst of confusing moral judgments.
Family life and abuse
When we travel fifty years in the past to meet our protagonist at her younger and more vulnerable age, we see that she is truly vulnerable. She still lives in the home of her abusive father, partially because the abuse has left her too repressed to have legs of her own to stand on. Her father's abuse is shown as a degenerating force that weakens her resolve and her self-esteem so that she doubts her own power. She works at a prison, which reminds the reader through imagery what it feels like to be in an abusive home; it feels like being at a prison not because of guilt but because of duty.
Divine judgment and murder
The divine judgment imagery appears for the reader when we read the injustice of Eileen's mistreatment at home. The question is whether Eileen's father will "get away with it." That thematic motif of "getting away with it," is part of this imagery. The imagery finds its full expression in the epic, mythic story of the Polk family. Leonard Polk is also an abused person, but he decides to murder his own father in his sleep. That involves murder in this question, because Leonard is both judged for this and he also judges the father to die. This duality of judgment is the trick; by judging her father, Eileen might trap herself in the real prison as a murderer. Notice that it is Mrs. Polk, the patient witness of Leonard's own abuse that Eileen is asked to kill.
Forgiveness as freedom and new life
The novel demonstrates forgiveness not only directly with theme statements but indirectly through imagery. What happens to Eileen when she decides not to murder Mrs. Polk and blame the death on her father? She earns personal freedom, a quest to an adventurous life in the place her soul longs to experience, New York City (but also, a reference to the motif of paradise and the Promised Land), and she acquires a new identity and a chance to live a life outside X-Ville. Therefore, the imagery suggests that by forgiving others, a person could find freedom and a new life.
