Sheila Finch's "Out of the Mouths" is, on the surface, a short story about the scientific use of a developping relationship between a human and alien child to learn an alien language. Beneath the surface, it is resonant with important themes. Although short, it delivers as good a story and as important a message as any novel. This is because of Finch's use of imagery. Through this poetic device, she makes apparent to attentive readers the nature of each of her characters and the theme of the story as a whole.
First of all, imagery shaped Heron, the linguist, as a character. At the op…
