How does Mika Waltari use imagery in Sinuhe the Egyptian: A Novel?

Imagery:

You never told me that your father Senmut has a house in the poor quarter near the harbor. The house is worth little, but the ground it stands on lies near the quays, and his furniture might fetch something at the market. I might eat and drink and take pleasure with you today if you were to give me this property of yours—for no one knows what tomorrow may bring, and I must guard my reputation.'

After this I could not join in the general merrymaking, although the palace and its forecourts swarmed with people who drank wine and beer and wildly applauded Kaptah's clowning—for he had already forgotten the awkwardness in the women's house. His black eye had been treated with slabs of fresh raw meat so that it was no longer painful though richly colored.