How does Annie Ernaux use imagery in I Remain in Darkness?

In the section, 1984 July-December, powerful descriptions are made more emphatic by the author's use of language. Short, one-word, bullet-like sentences list the smells of the hospital. Ernaux effectively uses metaphor by referring to the institution as a cage where patients walk over and over again in the same paths along the enclosed corridors. She also uses subtle imagery by discussing the clocks and their inability to mark the correct time. The allusion is that the patients are the same way - unaware of the time of day, the time of year, the time of their lives.