Lack of Electricity
Even with the moon, the road was dark and filled with shadows. (74)
Throughout the book, William repeatedly emphasizes how Malawian society revolves around the daylight cycle. Without electricity, it is difficult for the people to do anything at night, or early in the morning, as William does here. Needing to farm early in the morning is consistently a terrifying experience for him, and the imagery here describes the dread of the darkness and shadows for the reader as well.
Manglomera
My knuckles swelled with bright drops of blood. (45)
In William's first physical experience with magic, there is pain. He is trying to get the procedure to acquire manglomera, which is supposed to make him stronger. When the powder is administered onto his bloody knuckles, though, the sensation of "hot coals" makes the experience feel more like torture and pain than gaining power and magic. William had, up until now, seen magic and heard its stories, but had not experienced it for himself. The "bright blood" and vibrant red of this procedure makes the experience so much more visceral for both William and the reader.
Scrapyard
Crawling on my back under the old rusted cars and tractors... (187)
William's scrapyard is the site where most of his materials come from, and so it is also the site of his free-roaming imagination. Here, among rusted parts and vehicles, he imagines himself to be a great mechanic with many people under his jurisdiction. The imagery serves to emphasize William's imagination by displaying the ragged reality of his playthings. Despite the rusted and antiquated quality of the materials, he still finds great joy in playing with these objects, and in using them as part of his dreamscape.
Goat Skin
The skin was sticky, as if covered in scalding glue. (119)
One of the images that William returns to time and time again is the distortion of bodies with hunger. During the famine, the food Malawians consume is distorted in many ways, as this image suggests. When William attempts to consume boiled goat skin with his cousin Charity, this sticky, glue-like substance is what they eat, which is incredibly unpleasant. From the word "scalding," this image gives the sense of the pain and effort it takes to eat this tough object, and how difficult it is to do so. This willingness to eat anything comes from a hunger-driven desperation, where even the toughest substance is desirable just because of its proximity to meat. The tactile sensation of sticky skin emphasizes that desperation with its visceral and almost disgusting imagery.
