Plain
Yeong-hye was of “middling height”, her hair was “neither long nor short”, her skin was “jaundiced, sickly-looking.” “Her timid, sallow aspect” told Mr. Cheong everything he needed to know. When she came nearer to the table where he was standing, he “couldn’t help but notice her shoes – the plainest black shoes imaginable.” Her walk “neither fast nor slow” was just like the rest of her, absolutely unremarkable. This imagery doesn’t evoke any special emotion, for it depicts an ordinary woman, the kind people don’t usually notice in a crowd.
The strange thing
It was a “cold” night when Mr. Cheong found his wife standing in the kitchen. No matter how cold the night was, “the sight of my wife was even more chilling.” So sobering was this image that the remains of “any lingering alcohol-included drowsiness” swiftly passed. She “was standing motionless, in front of the fridge.” Her face “was submerged in the darkness” so he “couldn’t make out her expression” but “the potential options” all filled him with “fear.” This imagery is supposed to create a feeling of uneasiness.
A shock
When Mr. Cheong got up, “something squashed” under his foot and that unclear substance made him stop “in midsentence.” To put it mildly, he couldn’t believe his eyes. His wife was “crouching, still wearing her nightclothes, her disheveled, tangled hair a shapeless mass around her face.” The kitchen floor was covered “with plastic bags and airtight containers, scattered all over so that was nowhere” he could put his feet “without treading on them.” This imagery is supposed to convey a feeling of a shock.
