Spring Flowers (Visual Imagery)
Grann opens the book with a description of blooming wildflowers: “In April, millions of tiny flowers spread over the blackjack hills and vast prairies in the Osage territory of Oklahoma. There are Johnny-jump-ups and spring beauties and little bluets. The Osage writer John Joseph Mathews observed that the galaxy of petals makes it look as if the 'gods had left confetti.'" Grann uses this visual imagery to showcase the beauty of the reservation and the dramatic shift of the seasons.
Dirt on the Coffin Lid (Auditory Imagery)
Grann describes Anna's funeral in the following passage: “Mollie watched the glistening white coffin sink into the ground until the long, haunting wails were replaced by the sound of earth clapping against the lid.” He uses the auditory imagery of the wailing mourners and the topsoil hitting the coffin to create a somber mood.
Oil (Olfactory Imagery)
Grann describes the Osage's oil as “the dark, slimy, smelly mineral substance seemed like the most beautiful thing in the world.” He uses this olfactory imagery to highlight the gap between the oil's value and its unappealing smell.
Explosion (Haptic Imagery)
Grann depicts the fire at the Smith household: “Ernest felt the explosion, too. 'It shook everything,' Ernest later recalled. 'At first I thought it was thunder.' Mollie, frightened, got up and went to the window and could see something burning in the distant sky, as if the sun had burst violently into the night." He uses this haptic imagery to depict the intensity of the fire and fear that Mollie and Ernest (or so he claims) experienced at the moment it happened.
