How does the author use imagery in the novel, One of Ours?

Consistently throughout her novel, Cather includes lengthy descriptions of the natural world, its beauty, and its destruction. During Books 1 and 2, when Claude is in Frankfort, Cather describes the American landscape and the different farms around the town. For example, Cather describes Mr. Royce’s mill as a place of “sharp-contrasts; bright sun and deep shade, roaring sound and heavy, dripping silence” (56). Not only does this description create a vivid testament to the American landscape, but also it functions symbolically in Cather’s novel. Just as the mill is a place of irreconcilable contrasts, so too will Claude’s relationship with Enid be a place of irreconcilable contrasts, uncomfortably synthesized by the marriage itself. In this way, Cather’s use of poetic description is two-fold: it both bears witness to the American landscape before World War I and adds a layer of symbolism to her novel’s plot.