Imagery

"It got dark and we could feel the country hot and sandy and dark outside of the window...(pg 94)."

In this quote, not only is sight mentioned, but touch, as well. Hemingway wants to make sure we are experiencing what it feels like to travel through Europe. The senses identified vary in this piece almost as much as the setting. Imagery is a common ground in all literary works, but one experiences them differently and in varying amounts in all works, even ones written by the same author. Imagery is used to fulfill many different ends and, therefore, cannot be limited to one explanation as to why it appears in literature. Here, the imagery is used to make the trip feel more realistic. To simply say the group is travelling by train is a distant idea to most modern readers. Trains are rarely used due to the existence of cars, buses, ships, and other much more efficient means of travel. The landscape and experiencesof Europe are also foreign to the average American; therefore, explanation is essential.