How does Ruth L. Ozeki use imagery in My Year of Meats?

Imagery:

"I imagine Shonagon, the master thief, hiding in her nook of history, watching me slip in and out of darkened rooms and steal from people's lives."

"Coming at us like this—in waves, massed and unbreachable—knowledge becomes symbolic of our disempowerment—becomes bad knowledge—so we deny it, riding its crest until it subsides from consciousness."