Imagery

In Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson use imagery to make events vivid in the minds of the reader. The use of imagery in the book is so important because it seems to me that the strongest part of the whole book. More of a chapter is spent describing a scene rather than dialogue and that really emphasizes that the biggest character in the whole book is the setting “I get in the car and drive off. Down the road and across the river, past Lars’ cottage and out onto the main toad through the forest, and I see the lake sparkling though the trees on the right until suddenly it is behind me, and then it’s across an open plan of yellow long since harvested fields on both sides.” (64). This passage shows the intense level of detail the Petterson uses to entice the reader to continue on in the mental picture book that is Out Stealing Horses. The scene where Trond wakes in the barn has a part when the milkmaid comes in to milk the cow: “I sat watching her with my back against the wall in the light of the lamp she had hung from a hook beside the stall; the knotted scarf holding back her hair; the light on her face, her inward-looking gaze and the half smile, her bare arms and the bare knees glowing faintly…” (104). This is such a vivid description that I can clearly imagine the character. Petterson makes the character of the milkmaid seem so much like a memory that the reader has that I almost decided not to call her a character that is how real the image was. That is also part of the reason why imagery is so important. There is little dialogue in the book and the only way to get to know a character is through their descriptions such as Jon’s mother’s kindness and beauty. Since the characters in this book only speak when it is necessary the images take a strong control of the emotions and feelings conveyed by the characters.