The imagery used in the story serves numerous purposes, including mimicking the passage of time and maturity of the narrator through tone and word use. Her representation of Mr. Sweet and his home gradually changes depending on which stage her life the narrator is describing. For example, she initially describes Mr. Sweet using more positive words that illicit feelings of innocence, such as “kinky hair” and comparing his moustache to “Spanish moss” (Paragraph 1). Meanwhile, his final description is more mature and solemn: “the old face, the wrinkled forehead, the red lips” (Paragraph 20). This is blunt and realistic. The way the narrator views Mr. Sweet changes fundamentally when faced with his death, and these minor details help contribute to that development.

Mr. Sweet’s literal death is foreshadowed throughout the story, such as when his hair is noted as “dead white” and when he suffers a stroke, but this impending reality can easily be ignored when focusing on the repetitive metaphorical deaths he deals with through depression. Due to this, his real death shocks the narrator, even though she has noticed his signs of aging her whole life.