Shusaku Endo applies the use of imagery along with other literary devices throughout the short story The War Generation. Specifically, he uses the sky to help draw a mental picture for the reader that will help explain further his thoughts regarding the situation in Japan during the war period. In order to paint this picture as clearly as he possibly could, Shusaku Endo used other literary devices together with the imagery of the sky to appeal to the audience. Metaphors and similes were occasionally used alongside or together with references of the sky by the author in his efforts of tying the exact feeling or message he was intending to communicate with something the audience can easily relate to for a better understanding. To achieve this, the author used the condition, appearance and sounds from the sky to describe to the audience the scenes, feelings and emotions of the characters in the story. This is important as visualizing the condition, appearance and sounds from the sky, activates the imagination of the reader making them part and parcel of the story. Therefore, although the author successfully used other literary devices, the use of the imagery of the sky was the most productive because it effectively described the sad state of the city, the feelings of depression among the characters and the state of tension and fear that the war brought to the city.
Through describing the condition of the sky, the author was able to explain to the reader the condition or environment that the country was in during the war period. Shusaku Endo wrote that the sky was almost always overcast during the time when Konishi was about to join the army (905). An overcast sky is one covered almost completely by clouds, casting a dark shadow of the clouds on the ground it covers. The author used the image of an overcast sky and the subsequent darkness that engulfed the city that existed underneath it to portray a feeling of sadness and depression in the city that was brought about by the war.in addition to the melancholy and the general loss of happiness felt in Tokyo during the period, the overcast skies also represent a feeling of lost hope and morale as the war obscured the future of the city and the entire country at large.