Imagery In A Christmas Memory

In the story “A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote, imagery is used to create an image in your mind by appealing to your five senses. Imagery is often used to describe the setting of the story and to give you an idea of what is going on. Capote shows many examples of imagery throughout the story to make you understand the importance of his memory. The use of imagery helps create the mood by making the story real and bringing you in what Capote saw. In the beginning of the story, part of the setting was described as “Just today the fireplace commenced its seasonal roar.” This appeals to your senses of hearing and touch, to help you understand the setting of the story, which would be in the winter. The fireplace roars because it is explaining that it is not a weak fire, but is in fact a large and

The use of a simile compares the stove to a lighted pumpkin to explain how light the stove was. This example puts you into the moment and the event when they were baking to make you see from Buddy’s view, and to liven up the details of the setting.

The final example given by Capote was, after Buddy and his friend make the fruitcakes, they drink some whiskey as a celebration for a job well done. Capote describes the result of drinking the whiskey as “;the taste of it brings screwed up expressions and sour shudders.” The use of taste and sour appeals to your sense of taste to help depict the bitterness of the whiskey. Screwed up expressions and shudders appeals to your sense of sight to illustrate how the characters in the story felt. Both of these help make the setting and time of the story seem real and immerse the reader into the events