In Carter’s dream
Amy finally meets with Carter, and she gets pulled into his subconscious dream-like world, where she experiences his past and the death of Rachel Wood. Amy goes through the same steps of meeting and finally witnessing the death of the woman. What is striking is the image of her shape in the pool, rising, while Amy and Carter have a conversation. The visualization of the moment shows Carter’s inner turmoil, regret and his need to re-live the moment.
“The man’s life had stopped right there, at the bottom of the pool, his mind forever trapped in a loop of sorrow.”
Visual imagery of virals
The virals are visualized as creatures with a human-like grotesque appearance, with claws for hands and feet and large, sharp teeth. It is interesting that their appearance varies depending on the original viral from the twelve. Their appearance mirrors the vileness and ferocity of the original viral.
“Its features had a blurry appearance, as if its human characteristics had been dissolved by a strong acid.”
Visual imagery of the Homeland
The Homeland represents an interesting concept in the novel, and it is described as a last large community on earth where people are safely living. But, this is only on the surface level because the Homeland is a place where people are exploited and living in misery and fear, not from the obvious viral threat, but threat from their fellow opportunist humans, with Horace Guilder as the main leader. The Homeland could be seen as a concept that criticizes human corruption, and selfish human nature, mirroring some real societal constructs.
“Another pitiless sunrise, she thought. Another morning as a citizen of the Homeland.”
The Field of Bones
On her journey, searching for Martinez, Alicia stumbles upon a massive grave site containing the remains of thousands of virals. Later in the novel, it is revealed that the virals are going extinct because of the lack of food, the original virals discarding them as unnecessary weight, because all of them are a part of the original viral giving them life.
“She called it the Field of Bones. Though neither was it a field, in the strictest sense, nor were they bones, exactly. Rather, the crumbling, sun-blasted remains of a viral multitude, covering the tableland to a far horizon. How many was she seeing? A hundred thousand? A million? More? Alicia stepped forward, taking her place among them. From each footfall rose a cloud of ash. The taste was in her throat and nose, painting the walls of her mouth like a paste.”
