How does Jorge Amado use imagery in Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon?

Imagery:

"Life was rotten, full of hypocrisy; Ilhéus was a heartless town where nothing mattered but money."

"There are certain kinds of flowers —have you ever noticed?— that are beautiful and fragrant as long as they grow in the garden. But if you put them in vases, even silver vases, they wilt and die."