Imagery serves as a valuable component when attempting to make a narrative pleasantly readable. By definition, imagery appeals to the five senses: sight, taste, smell, hearing, and touch. Through this useful method, one can formulate a vivid picture of the narrative for the reader. One can also use imagery to further develop the personality and thoughts of the character. For instance, I read a book called Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers back in elementary school. He wrote "But who should we kill? Maybe we would be quicker to shoot in the hamlets. Maybe we would stop pretending that we knew who the enemy was and let ourselves believe that all the Vietnamese were the enemy. That would be the easy way. The women, the babies, the old men with their rounded backs and thin brown legs. They would be the enemy, all of them, and we would be those who killed the enemy. What I recall was the explicit details of the war scenes and the personality of the characters. The author was successful in depicting the disposition of the main characters within the plot of the novel. Richie Perry, the main protagonist of the story, undergoes an internal struggle as he experiences the reality of war. This scenario illustrates what most people can relate to: a conflict with morality. As a reader, I was able to feel the character's confusion and better understand him as a result. War has a way of altering one's thinking and mentally affecting that person substantially. Concisely, imagery is useful when "painting a mental picture " for the reader.
Moreover, imagery is very significant in the developing of a good narrative for the reader. Writers often utilize imagery for readers to gain a better understanding of their narrative as people often learn better as visual learners. From my personal interview conducted with a liberal arts student at my university, I learned that our preconceptions of imagery can be traced back to past experiences with children's books, as we learn pictures, we take imagery from words.
