Brochure imagery
Botton writes about the deceptive nature of many societal depictions of "happiness" including the idea that if a person travels far and wide they will achieve this elusive emotional state. However, Botton shows that the idea that travel immediately brings happiness is a delusion perpetuated by travel companies, and uses imagery to illustrate this point:
"The longing provoked by the brochure was an example... of how projects (and even whole lives) might be influenced by the simplest and most unexamined images of happiness; of how a lengthy and ruinously expensive journey might be set into motion by nothing more than the sight of a photograph of a palm tree gently inclining in a tropical breeze."
Normal life
Botton often talks about the idea of "escaping oneself" to travel, which he argues isn't actually possible. He uses imagery to describe the stresses of normal life that people are trying to escape from, including the "constraints of work and the struggle for survival." The idea of "constraint" and "struggle" builds an idea of the difficulty of everyday life.
Escape imagery
Botton uses imagery to describe the common places people use to escape from their lives, including the "twenty-four-hour diners, the station waiting room, and the motel," which are "sanctuaries for those who have, for noble reasons, failed to find a home int he ordinary world." This kind of description presents these people are being displaced and unable to find happiness in their normal lives.
