How does Kathleen Kent use imagery in The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel?

Imagery:

"It was not defiance only that made me study her so, although our cat-and-mouse games did become a kind of battle. It was also because she with a deliberation bordering on the unseemly, set herself apart from what a woman should be and was as surprising as a flood or a brush fire. She had a will, and a demeanor, as forceful as a church deacon's. And she had a tongue, the sharpness of which would gut a man as quick as a Gloucester fisherman could clean a lamprey eel."

"For all Grandmother was soft and gentle, she was also persuasive, and like water wearing down rock she worked on Mother until she agreed to attend [church] services on the morrow. Mother said under her breath, 'I'd rather eat stones.'"

"The Reverend praised Aunt's cooking, invoking the Bible in defense of his gluttony. One would have thought Aunt had served up angel's bread rather than an aged and pungent spit of mutton. As he chewed, he pulled pieces of gristle and fat from between his teeth and wiped his oily hands on his trousers."