The Arrival of the Boxes (Visual Imagery)
When the boxes arrive, Erlick uses rich visual imagery to illustrate their arrival. Erlick describes how small wooden chests appeared in environments from “finely mowed lawns in the suburbs, nestled between hedges and the first blooms of the hyacinth… [to] the warm sands outside tents in the desert [to] lonely lakeside cabins.” This illustrates how boxes arrive in many different environments regardless of circumstance. They're dark brown in color with a reddish tint, and cool and smooth to the touch with the inscription The measure of your life lives within. Each string is covered by a “silvery white piece of delicate fabric”(p. 2). This description paints a picture of the box everyone has received and gives us a closer look at the experience of receiving a box.
The First Arrival of the Box (Visual Imagery)
Nina is the first person we see discover her box. When she does, Erlick uses imagery to illustrate the calm that's interrupted by the box's arrival. Erlick uses descriptors such as “plump” and “deliciously" and words like “sizzle“ to denote a positive environment. Nina notes the silence outside, which signifies to the reader that there's no warning about what is to come. It also further paints the picture of a warm, still environment where people enjoy the pleasures of everyday life. The use of literary devices to set the tone of a calm environment makes Nina opening her phone and hearing about the boxes online seem like an infringement on the day-to-day life of people. This also foreshadows how disruptive the boxes will be in people's lives (p. 5-6).
The Marriage Bureau As a Metaphor (Visual Imagery)
When Nina and Maura arrive at the Marriage Bureau for their civil ceremony, Erlick uses imagery to pull us into the environment. Maura describes the building as a large grey edifice next to the Health Department, the building where the city's birth and death certificates are filed. Maura finds this fitting as the Health Department records the beginning and end of life, while close by, couples can vow to support each other through everything in between. This use of imagery further supports Nina's argument with Amie, in which she speaks about how vows have always included death (p. 286).
The Use of Music in The Measure (Auditory Imagery)
When Ben is in the train station and on the subway, we see auditory imagery used to describe what is happening in the world. We see this in Ben’s point of view when he is in an empty subway after the strings have arrived. The ordinarily bustling subway is empty during rush hour, its emptiness creating an eerie environment. This eeriness is made more poignant by a man on the subway who is singing the song "Little Boxes" (p. 9-10).
Erlick uses auditory imagery in a hopeful sense through the allusion to the letters that Amie and Ben had been exchanging. This happens when Amie is confused about Ben and begins to hear the song "Que sera, sera" playing. She previously identified this man as having biked around Manhattan spreading hope through playing this song but having disappeared since the arrival of the strings. Thus, he appears as a familiar beacon of hope (p. 293).
Ben After Amie Says Yes (Olfactory Imagery)
After Amie decides to be with Ben after Maura and Nina‘s wedding, we shift to Ben’s perspective. We can see the life that Amie has breathed into Ben's life through his description of the world around him. Erlick describes Ben emerging into the first blush of spring. The trees “yawn awake” and we have olfactory imagery in the description of the scent of the grass and nearby food carts carried in the breeze. This sets the mood as being romantic and open to life. (p. 319)
