Imagery Imagery
The imagery of imagery itself is prevalent throughout the novel. The narrator has to remind himself that the people he sees are merely images, not actual living humans. All the images superimposed on reality by Morel's machine are merely images, and this imagery is evident in the language and plot development as the book progresses.
Decay Imagery
Morel's machine supposedly gives life, but all the imagery surrounding it only implies death and decay. When the machine captures a subject, it preserves it for the record, but it simultaneously causes a severely accelerated rate of decay in the subject similar to the effects of extreme radiation exposure. This imagery is evident in many instances; for example, humans exposed to the machine quickly decay, losing their hair, fingernails, and bodily integrity, and die within the span of a few days.
Wilderness Imagery
Emphasizing the fact that the narrator and Morel are in wild, unexplored territory in human development, the narrator's environment is described as wild and unpredictable. The island is infested with mosquitoes, snakes, and other dangerous wildlife. The summer is terrible in its heat, and the flood threat of the waves endangers the narrator's life many times. Snakes and other nasty creatures even inhabit the island's only swimming pool.
Isolation Imagery
The narrator is the only living human on the island, and the language used in the novel reflects this. He only ever has to worry about his own safety and survival, and the isolated view he holds of himself, both physically and emotionally because of his crime, colors his thought process. Even when Morel's company appears, he is still the only actually living person on the island, and his realization of this fact only serves to heighten his sense of isolation, eventually leading to his suicide by "immortalization."
