The Smell of Death
Conveying death through imagery is something that can be done utilizing a variety of sensory of details. The most difficult may be pursuing the effect through the sense of smell, but here the writer does it quite effectively:
“The acrid odor of decomposing bodies remained like a stinking little ball, diluting slowly in his blood.”
People are The Same
Extreme situations bring out extreme reactions. The surprising thing, perhaps, is how often these reactions are similar even when the circumstances of the event itself differ significantly. Imagery is utilized efficiently in this example to show how people are the same at heart even when actions and intent surrounding them are wildly dissimilar:
“a tall young man with a beard violently took me aside…In an acerbic tone he complained about the lack of running water at certain times of day…The young bearded man was just like a union man publicly defying the evil factory owner. People never change. I was really beside myself. Our eyes met. There was a strange glow in his gaze.”
Femme Fatale
A short description of a woman is fused with the kind of imagery that could allow it to very easily be switched out with a noirish detective novel without the slightest edit or alteration. Which just goes to show how universally applicable generic conventions of noir writing really can be:
“There was something infernal about her beauty. The kind of woman who in men desire, fear, crazy dreams of beginning a new life, and a vague feeling of frustration. She was really stunning. I didn’t know her. While I was wondering what attitude to adopt, she said very fast, in a staccato voice.”
Alienation
The strangely palpable sense of recognizing a feeling of alienation that goes proceeds so far beyond that norm that one becomes aware of its surreal dimension is one of those moments in life that is particularly difficult to translate to the page. Here is an example from the novel which shows how it can be done:
“A bird swooped in among the trees and its brief cry was immediately lost in the night. In the distance, a pack of dogs barked at a passing automobile. For a moment, the headlights lit up a corner of the horizon toward the north, then everything became dark again… Everything conspired to make the moment unreal: trees slowly raising their fine black trunks toward the sky and the indistinct traces of footsteps on the red sand. He felt his solitude like the muffled echo of that of the victims.”
