The image of the Area Chief Boswell
The narrator introduces the Area Chief Boswell whom she had worked under using vocabulary that enhances the creation of mental images in the reader's subconscious. The narrator describes him as "a small puffy man who looked like a bag of flour with arms and legs." This description paints the Area Chief Boswell as a rather stocky, stubby and rather thick individual. The imagery is further enhanced by the use of the simile "like a bag of flour with arms and legs" further enhances this imagery as it becomes more prevalent and established.
The imagery of the events that follow the arrival of the narrator's father
In her emphasis on the way her father could 'stop a clock,' the narrator vividly describes the events that follow the arrival of her father in the hotel in which she was having breakfast. The imagery begins with the narrator sitting in "a small cafe" having a sandwich. The world can be imagined as it "flickered, shuddered and stopped" upon the arrival of the narrator's father. "The proprietor of the cafe" can be imagined freezing in mid-sentence, the picture on the television set as it "stops dead", "birds as they hung motionless in the sky." Additionally, the imagery becomes more pronounced as the cars and trams "halt" in the streets, the cyclist as he is "paused" two feet from the hard asphalt and the sound as it is "halted" and subsequently replaced with "a dull snapshot of a hum." The narrator explicitly describes these events as: "As I said earlier, my father had a face that could stop a clock; and that's exactly what happened one spring morning as I was having a sandwich in a small cafe not far from work. The world flickered, shuddered and stopped. The proprietor of the cafe froze in mid-sentence and the picture on the television stopped dead. Outside, birds hung motionless in the sky. Cars and trams halted in the streets and a cyclist involved in an accident stopped in midair, the look of fear frozen on his face as he paused two feet from the hard asphalt. The sound halted too, replaced by a dull snapshot of a hum, the world's noise at that moment in time paused indefinitely at the same pitch and volume."
Imagery that follows the departure of the narrator's father
After the narrator and his father have a conversation, the narrator provides explicit and rather perceptive descriptions of the events that follow her father's departure from the small cafe. This description enhances the creation of mental images in which the reader is able to visualize the events as they resume normality: "The world rippled as the clock started again. The barman finished his sentence, the birds flew on to their nests, the television came back on with a nauseating ad for SmileyBurgers, and over the road, the cyclist met the asphalt with a thud."
Thursday Next as she leaves her car to the scene of the robbery
After getting the disconcerting image in which the narrator (Thursday Next) is informed of the theft of the manuscript, she describes the events that she does as she arrives at the scene. The reader is thus able to visualize her as she parks her car, clips her SO-2y badge onto the top of her pocket and pushes her way through the crowds of pressmen and gawkers as she sees Boswell in the distance and ducks under a police line in order to reach Boswell. This imagery is necessary for enhancing the appeal of the events to the reader: "I parked my car, clipped my SO-2y badge into my top pocket and pushed my way through the crowds of pressmen and gawkers. I saw Boswell from a distance and ducked under a police line to reach him."
