Homework - Description from Book

In response to our assignment, here is a quote from Mossflower, the second installment in the Redwall series by Brian Jacques.I read this book last year, but I think I can still remember the mental image I got from this description.

“Martin was astonshed by the size of Lord Cayvear’s domain. Bat Mountpit was vast and impressive, with chasms, tunnels, streams, caves, waterfalls, and underground lakes. Lord Cayvear pointed out his tribe. Those not searching for Gonff were farming great areas of edible roots, mushrooms, and subterranean plants, while others fished the lakes.”

This description gave me visions of a vast cave with waterfalls and elevated pathways, and complex cave systems branching off from it. At the floorof the cave, I envision there to be mushrooms and various plants. For some reason, I may have imagined them to be iridescent, although I don’t recall the book saying that they were. However, the book does say elsewhere that there was a hole at the top, and a slim shaft of light shone down through it.

The funny thing about books is that they can be interpreted different ways by different people. You probably got a different mental image from that quote than I did. In my opinion, what books do is tell you what to imagine in the scene, not how to imagine it.