Vivid Detials

Author's Note: The outstanding use of imagery can drive a story in an entirely new direction. Find out how that impacts "The Sorcerer of the North" by John Flanagan.

After all the tedious lemon squeezing you’ve been doing it is almost time for a delectable glass of lemonade. You pour the glass and get more and more anxious to take that sip. When you finally do you spit it out immediately, you forgot to add sugar. Fortunately in the story “The Sorcerer of the North” (Flanagan) they certainly did not forget the sugar of imagery in the lemonade of the story. The story is about a young spy, Will, and courier, Alice, who are sent to figure out the mystery of the sorcerer in Grimsdell Forest, neighboring Castle Macindaw up in the north containing extremely harsh weather conditions. Without figurative language the plot of the story would change and it would become undesirable to read.

Imagery is often used about the Grimsdell Forest, the haunted burial grounds of a vile sorcerer.  Personification such as “the vines strangled him as he made his way through the brush” (p 94) or “the ancient trees returned a stare of death to Will and Horace as they watched them.” (p 95) really lets you see the evil in the forest. The tone is changed from maybe slightly suspenseful to a much better one. It sets a tone of suspense and creepiness. If the personification was not introduced into this part the reader may not feel disturbed or terrified and may even be viewed as uninteresting. Grimsdell gets the extra kick of interesting it needs from these few simple phrases.

Personification used for the Grimsdell Forest helps us get the extraordinarily disturbed and suspenseful feeling but the Imagery for the gnawing cold climate is no less important. Similes such as “the cold gnawed your skin like millions of ganterbugs.” (p 157) or metaphors such as “the pile of snow froze death into his back.” (p 186) bring you chills, enjoyment and confusion of what a ganterbug may be. These phrases bring the reader entertainment, confusion of what some of the terms are, and may want you to go grab a blanket as well. While it may not be a huge impact on the plot of the story, it certainly does an excellent job of entertaining the reader. Normally reading about climate can be excruciatingly boring.

Imagery used for the dreadful climate created a more enjoyable read for readers and contributes to the overall impact of imagery on the story. If John Flanagan had chosen to leave out this vivid language the story would be somewhat confusing. Will, the main character,  often is reluctant to speak about his journeys to the terrifying Grimsdell Forest. Without that vivid imagery the reader would be very confused about why he hesitates or if they did understand it they would think nothing of it. Even the language about the climate changes the story. Many characters groan and complain about the weather. Likewise, the climate also impacted their actions such as not being able to see signals through the blizzard or having the snow cover their tracks.

The overall impact of the story really makes you wonder why anyone would ever consider not putting vivid imagery in the story. It makes the story much more enjoyable to read and has set up a good plot for the story. With Grimsdell giving off that aura of fear and the climate giving the chill it would in real life the experiences seem life like and enjoying. Likewise, the characters dealing with these emotions changes the plot and can make you attached to the book.