How does John Edgar Wideman use imagery in What We Cannot Speak About We Must Pass Over in Silence?

The narrator uses harsh imagery to describe the confines of his small apartment. "Water, when you turn on a faucet first thing in the morning, gags on itself, spits, then gushes like a bloody jailbreak from the pipes." This type of imagery reminds us of Dostoevsky's underground man, the sick and wicked brooder who lives holed up in his little compartment, shut off from society and reflecting on his sorry condition.