How does Julie Otsuka use imagery in When the Emperor Was Divine: A Novel?

In Chapter Three, the boy's references to his father, we see an image of a man who is intelligent and kind, kind to his own family as well as everyone else. The boy misses his father intensely. Given the opportunity to choose what to pack in his suitcase he takes a pair of his father's shoes. Choosing these items comes at the cost of sacrificing something of his own. The boy wants some artifact to make him feel closer to his father, and the boy is still haunted by the image of seeing his father led away in only a bathrobe and slippers.