The Stars at Night
Describing the desert at night, Austin creates an image of the Holy Communion, therefore emphasizing the closeness to God in this land: "For all the toll the desert takes of a man it gives compensations, deep breaths, deep sleep, and the communion of the stars." Moreover, she uses the word 'heavens,' which connotes paradise, a place free of sorrows: "It is hard to escape the sense of mastery as the stars move in the wide clear heavens to risings and settings unobscured." Indeed, they seem to be in a transcendent state devoid of worry and distress: "Wheeling to their stations in the sky, they make the poor world-fret of no account."
Owls Hunting at Night
Painting an image of a night scene with owls, Austin relies on a description of sounds: "All night the rustle and soft hooting keeps on in the neighborhood of the spring, with seldom small shrieks of mortal agony," illustrating how the owls hunt at night.
Signs of Death
One of the most terrifying images in the desert is the sight of vultures and buzzards. Austin describes in detail how they patiently wait for their prey to die of thirst and exhaustion: "A wolf at the throat would be a shorter agony than the long stalking and sometime perchings of these loathsome
watchers." Seeing those birds in the sky connotes a sense of imminent death, which is amplified by the fact that they do not hide; instead, they are always visible, therefore making death tangible: "He could hear the beat of their wings, Tom said, and trod on their shadows."
The Shepherd's Idyll
When Austin meets the shepherd Petite Pete, she appeals to all senses, describing an idyllic and romantic image that resembles the peaceful scene surrounding the birth of Jesus, thus emphasizing that nature and its people are close to God: "When the fire kindles and savory meat seethes in the pot, when there is a drowsy blether from the flock, and far down the mesa the twilight twinkle of shepherd fires, when there is a hint of blossom underfoot and a heavenly whiteness on the hills, one harks back without effort to Judaea and the Nativity."
