The effect of the directive is that it makes the reader imagine the scenario the narrator is describing. Perhaps something horrible has happened. The “you” that Orleanna is speaking to appears to be one of her daughters--the one who has passed away, Ruth May. The great disasters she alludes to are the death of someone and family problems. The woman says “Oh, little beast, little favorite. Can’t you see I died as well?” and “I couldn’t stop imagining the deaths of my children. I dreamed them drowned, lost, eaten alive.” This leads the reader to believe that there will be a death in the Price family. She also says that “I was his instrument, his animal. Nothing more.” and that “The hardest work of every day was deciding, once again, to stay with
