How does Alice Walker use imagery in We Drink the Wine in France?

Imagery:

"She dreams; dragging herself across the world."

"A squeeze around the flowers in her hands chokes off three and four and five years of breath."

"She thinks of the something as a rat trapped, cornered, scurrying to and fro in her head, peering through the windows of her eyes."

"But I fit into my new surroundings perfectly; like a jar of cold cream melting on a mirrored vanity shelf."