How does the author use imagery in the novel, Torn Thread?

Examples of Imagery:

"It grew hotter as the sun beat down on the train and poured through the windows, which were locked and barred like windows in a prison. The latrine consisted of two pails; they were already full, and women had begun to relieve themselves in corners. As the heat increased, so did the smell."

"An icy wind whipped at them the moment they stepped outside, as if the season had changed from summer to winter overnight. Rachel shivered under the coat Eva had brought, and Eva's thick sweater seemed to let in the wind through a hundred holes. Guards patrolied the yard, which was lit by yellow lamps on tall poles. Long lines of prisoners waited to use the foulsmelling latrines, while another, seemingly endless line wound through the camp toward the kitchen. Silent, huddled in the shadows under shawls and blankets, the prisoners looked more like ghosts than people."