Thesis: Imagery signifies the development of conflicts and time in the short story “Strays.” Kincaid uses imagery to put a visual image into the reader's mind as they are reading the short story. Kincaid sets up the beginning of the story using imagery to show the state that the narrator is in and where the time initially starts which can empathize the time it took for the conflict to happen. “Our father has meant to put the screens back on the windows for spring.” This quote shows the time period that the story is beginning with. "And leaves the house through the field next door cleared the week before for corn." This quote along with the previous quote mentioned shows that the progression of the story will most likely be shown through the growth of the corn because of how the narrator speaks of the beginning of spring and about how they cleared the field for the corn to grow. …show more content…
An example from the story to show this is, “There’s July corn and no word from our parents.” From this sentence, we can tell that it is currently the month to harvest corn which is in July. People normally plant crops in March and April so that the crops have the ability to grow in July which is the perfect time to harvest the crops. The crops that were harvested are normally a reward to the people that planted them. This however shows a conflict that is developing in the story. Harvesting is normally a good time of the year where the entire family would go and harvest the crops. This year is different because his parents are not home and he has not heard from