Brooklyn cop key quotes Flashcards
“Built like a gorilla but less timid”
Simile. Just as a gorilla is known to be aggressive, big and violent, so too is the cop, large, scary and animalistic. The simile is unusual because gorilla’s aren’t typically known for being timid, so for the cop to be ‘less timid’ than a gorilla, he must be completely fearless. The poet does this to show that the cop’s character is invincible and can be ruthless.
“two hieroglyphs in his face that mean trouble”
Metaphor. Just as hieroglyphs are a foreign language that would be difficult for us to understand, so too are the facial expressions and the eyes of the cop hard to decipher. Also is it well known that the eyes are the windows to the soul so it suggests that the cop is perhaps soulless as his eyes are unreadable.
“He walks the sidewalk and the thin tissue over violence”
Use of enjambment emphasise the issue of violence in his life. This line highlights that in his job there is always a threat of being caught up in crime.
“thin tissue” this metaphor shows the fragility of society and “sidewalk” reinforces that he has adapted to his job because just as a sidewalk is solid, concrete, and hard, so is he because he had to adjust to also being unbreakable and tough to survive his job
“he hoped it, he truly hoped it”
Use of repetition suggests that throughout his work day he is constantly going back to this thought about dying due to his job and about possibly not getting back home. This emphasises that he feels fearful in his job and that the violence and threat he experiences in the streets of Brooklyn make him feel vulnerable and at risk.
“Should the tissue tear, should he plunge through into violence”
Word choice + repetition of ‘should’ shows uncertainty of the situation and how the cop is constantly thinking and worrying about the threats, which reveals the dangers of the city because if it was safe he wouldn’t be anxious.
‘tissue tear’ metaphor highlights the fragility of peace in the city - violence is always present and ready to break through at any moment, emphasising the real danger of the city.
Word choice of ‘plunge’ suggests downward movement, sink, plummet. The writer chose this word to show there is more danger in the city and he feels humans have began a rapid descent into savageness and become more violent.
“who would be him, gorilla with a nightstick, whose home is a place, he might, this time never get back to?”
metaphor, word choice, rhetorical question
metaphor of ‘gorilla with a nightstick’ shows that he is an animal of authority.
word choice of ‘home’ has much more emotion connected to it than house to make us sympathise with him.
rhetorical question also gets us to sympathise with the cop as we consider that his life is also in danger.
