How does Dave Eggers use imagery in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius?

Imagery:

"'You wear snowshoes when the snow is deep and porous. The latticework within the snowshoe's oval distributes the wearer's weight over a wider area, in order to keep him or her from falling through the snow. So people, the connections between people, the people you know, become a sort of lattice, and the more people you know, and that know you, and know your situation and your story and your troubles or whatnot, the wider and stronger the lattice, and the less likely you are to—''Fall through the snow.'"