How does Ellen Hopkins use imagery in Burned?

Imagery:

"But this tiny piece of me kept thinking back to another, happier time, when Mom loved Dad. And me. And Dad loved Mom. And me. At least as much as he could with that dead, cold space growing inside him, that place no amount of love could ever settle into. That impenetrable arctic land where his ghosts had carried his heart."

"East from Carson City, the road stretched long and longer toward yesterday, sculpted in distant granite hills and splintered ghost town boardwalks."