How does Barbara Kingsolver use imagery in Prodigal Summer: A Novel?

Imagery:

"She [Deanna] kept herself still and tried to think of coyote children emerging from the forest's womb with their eyes wide open, while the finite possibilities of her own children closed their eyes, finally, on this world."

"She [Nannie] laid the side of her face against his frail old heart, where the pink shell of her ear could capture whatever song it had left."