How does Willa Cather use imagery in A Lost Lady?

Cather spends much of her time describing the characters who appear in the novel. Her descriptions are striking in their completeness. For example, when describing the posts on the front porch of the Forrester home, she does not simply write that they are carved, she writes that they are, "fragile, fussy pillars of that time, when every honest stick of timber was tortured by the turning-lathe into something hideous." This language used by Cather indicates not only the frivolity and extreme amount of carving done to the columns, but also denotes the idea that posts such as these were almost a disgrace to the wood used to make them. The novel is full of descriptions that beautifully portray the characteristics that Cather is trying to describe.