Use Of Imagery In Marc Mitchell's The New Girl

Writing paragraphs

An important element in Marc Mitchell’s The New Girl is his use of imagery. The way he brings the story to life, and uses his language to make a statement – to help the reader understand the situation better, and to get a better understanding of how the narrator feels about it;

He starts the story out by describing everything as burning. It was not just a hot, the narrator experiences it as burning – not just everything around them, him and Allison, but themselves, too. "It was a hot, bright day. Everything was burning - the roofs, the shrubs, the asphalt, our bike seats, our skin, our hair." (page 41) However, even though they of course weren’t on fire, – just as everything else was not – that’s how he decides to describe it. This gives the reader the expression of something rather unpleasant, something you wouldn’t want. Which is only natural, since a hot, burning fire is something we often link with Hell. And that precisely is how the narrator feels about this exact day.

Imagery helps us understand how much influence it had on the narrator, and how bad he feels about it. "As we rode, our bike tires scored the lawn with deep muddy wounds that would never completely heal." (page 42) He saying that even before they actually met the girl, it was too late. It was at that time already

He just cannot seem to repress it. "I remember it all so clearly" (page 43) + "This happened twenty years ago, but I still think about that afternoon almost every day." (page 43) Even after twenty years, he is still feeling bad. That feeling of remorse is never going to go away. "I hoped the knot would disappear. It didn 't." (page 43) It will and cannot disappear until he has made it right – before he get to apologize. Unfortunately, it has been too long, which leaves him almost paralysed. "And I hope more than anything that the girl and her mother have forgotten about me, but I know they haven