Thesis: Imagery signifies the development of conflicts and time in the short story “Strays.” Kincaid uses images of the seasons as it is changing into the reader’s mind to recreate the scene so that the reader can see how the story is progressing. Kincaid sets up the beginning of the story using imagery to show the state that the narrator is in and where the time initially starts which can empathize the time it took for the conflict to happen. “Our father has meant to put the screens back on the windows for spring.” This quote shows the time period that the story is beginning with. The image that is given to the readers is that mosquitoes and bugs are coming to show the start of spring. "And leaves the house through the field next door cleared…show more content… "We catch handfuls of lightning bugs and smear bright yellow on our shirts...We wait for somebody to come back home but nobody ever does." The image within the quote shows the progression of the story that life was continuing and it was all peaceful although his parents are not home. This shows how the narrator is most likely used to his parents being away from home for a short period of time and how he is used to being home alone along with his brother. Unknown to the narrator, he thinks that this time is just like other times, but it was proven different later in the story. “His face is angled out from his head on one side so that-sided eye is shut. His good eye waters when he wiggles loose teeth with cut-up fingers.” This quote shows how life was not peaceful and shows how a new conflict arises. In the previous quote, the narrator and his brother were having fun and their life had no major problems. However in this quote, things changed in ways that the narrator might have not anticipated. Generally, after one conflict arises, another one follows creating the domino effect. The story progresses more because of the domino effect that was created having multiple conflicts forming throughout the story. Instead of saying that, ‘all is calm before a storm,' the author uses the imagery of the lightning bugs and how Uncle Trash was beaten up to show the two different events that happened to allow conflicts to easily