There are many of examples of similes within this story to help readers visualize scenery, actions, and events. In Paragraph 4, the author describes the children leaving the home to play outside, saying, “[T]hey burst out like seeds from a crackling, overripe pod,” an image that captures the energy and desperation felt by the children as they flee the house to play outside. Describing the scenery around the outside of the house, the narrator says, “[T]he garden outside was like a tray made of beaten brass, flattened out on the red gravel and the stony soil in all shades of metal” (Paragraph 5). This image conveys not only the colors of the desiccated foliage but also the effects of the extreme heat on the living things subjected to it.

The author relies heavily on the use of imagery to convey emotions and ideas. Throughout the story, the sensory experience of the setting is closely connected to the characters’ thoughts and feelings. The story begins, for example, with a detailed description of what it feels like for the children to be inside the house on a hot summer afternoon: