Ishiguro's Imagery

"Its like walking past a mirror you've walked past every day of your life, and suddenly it shows you something else, something troubling and strange." - pg 36

At this point, Ishiguro starts using similes and analogies to convey the development of Kathy and her fellow students. In the course of two pages, Ishiguro used three different images to describe the incident with Madame. They were: comparing the students to spiders, comparing Madame's presence to a chilly shadow, and (the one above) comparing the feeling produced by the incident to walking by a mirror that can change its image.

All these imagery additions to the novel heighten the complexity of the story of Hailsham, Kathy, and her friends. It suggests that this change in perspective is significant to the future of the main character and the plot. Its not necessarily the same feeling as foreshadowing, but nevertheless the imagery effectively emphasizes the developments that will be important later on. These developments have more to do with the characters and the way their views are growing and how these views will effect the future of the plot rather than being events relevant to the future of the plot. Despite being very vivid similes, the comparisons Ishiguro make heighten the plot and set up the character base for the future.