How does John Steinbeck use imagery in The Winter of Our Discontent?

Imagery:

"Men don't get knocked out, or I mean they can fight back against big things. What kills them is erosion; they get nudged into failure. They get slowly scared. I'm scared."

"Sometimes a man seems to reverse himself so you would say, 'he can't do that. It's out of character'. Maybe it's not. It could just be another angle, or it might be that the pressures above or below have changed his shape. You see it in war a lot - a coward turning a hero and a brave man crashing in flames."