Whether the story is true or fictional, a good author can get someone to feel a specific way about a scene or event through the creation of images. Mary Karr does a phenomenal job with creating imagery in her memoir, The Liars' Club, because she delivers everything needed, from her graphic language to the enticing detail, to get the reader to feel the emotion in the story without holding back. Mary Karr dives deeper into detail upon significant events in her life, as well as when she is on the topic of her father. She uses a great deal of detail in the simple images regarding her father in order to convey that she is longing to be with her father and that she cherishes her memories of him, because he is the only stable adult figure in her life.

Mary Karr is holding on to every possible ounce of memory of her father because it seems as if she makes it a point to recall every ounce of detail about him and he is the only adult to truly care for her and love her, even though he does not make the best decisions all the time. "I hear about Daddy doing this kind of meanness, and I see guys shy away when he strolls over to a pool table, but he handles me like I'm something glass. Even his spankings are mild enough to be symbolic. When I got up cold this morning before we set out for the bayou, he warmed my socks over the gas heater before I pulled them on....My daddy buys me whatever I ask for and tells me he loves me better than anybody about fifty times a day. I've seen him fight, but I've never seen this sneaky meanness he talks about in the Liar's Club. I look at him scrubbing the blood out from under his fingernails with a pale blue plastic brush and wonder about it."(169)

In this passage Mary Karr expresses how much she loves her father and how much he loves her. She emphasizes how she could never see him being characterized as having a "sneaky meanness," and that he handles her with the utmost gentleness. This passage creates the image that though her father can be characterized by others as having a meanness, he would never express that side of himself to Mary because he loves her and would do anything for her. She becomes curious if he could really be that mean because she has seen him in fights but she has never seen him take on such a meanness that he speaks of to his friends. It could be that her father is making up stories about his meanness to his friends to try to make himself have a harder exterior. It also could be that he actually had that ferociousness inside of him however he refuses to express that side for the love of his daughters. Mary is possibly curious about this side of him because she wants to know as much as possible about her father because he is the only adult which she feels a strong love and connection to.

Mary Karr also fills her memory with details about her father's exterior and appearance down to the labels on his clothing. "There in the headlights shining across the empty stall, stood the lanky,big-handed figure of Daddy in loose khakis. He had on a baseball cap with Lone Star State embroidered on it. Under the logo was a yellow star that caught just enough moon to make itself seen. I rode toward that star. Under the brim lay a broad pit of dark. His face stayed in the dark. and the quiet that came with it, all he way home." (191)

This is evidence that Mary Karr strives to remember a great deal of details about her father. She remembers what he wears, what his face looks like, what he says, and when he is silent. She searches for comfort in her father and she strives to hold on to all possible emotions and bits and pieces of information about him because when she is with him she is comfortable. When she is with her father she feels loved and secure, despite the fact that he is a drinker because his drinking does not get in the way of his love and his life. It seems as if Mary Karr wants the reader to see her father in the beautiful light that she sees him in, despite his flaws. He loves her and that is all she needs.