Imagery Flashcards
- “Built like a gorilla”
Simile - describes the physical appearance of the cop as unflattering (powerful/aggressive)
Suggests he is scary and intimidating, distancing him from humanity.
Also suggests primitive animal instincts of the cop - symbolising the line between civilised and savage behaviour.
- “hieroglyphs in his face”
Metaphor - suggesting his eyes are like pictorial characters used in Ancient Egyptian writing. Suggesting they can’t be read.
Destroys idea tht “eyes are windows to the soul” Does this suggest cop does not have a soul?
Again reinforces his brutality/animalistic associations as people cannot tell what he is thinking.
Alternatively they could be scars.
- “thin tissue over violence”
Metaphor - suggesting that whatever separates the cop from brutal danger is paper-thin. Suggesting violence is just below the surface - both in the streets he patrols and within his own heart.
Social issue of violence immediately clear due to MacCaig’s shocking description of a character who appears capable of considerable violence and, at the same time, in danger of suffering himself.
- “He is a gorilla”
Metaphor - which is not diluted like the simile in the first line: he’s no longer being described as LIKE a gorilla, but us said to actually BE one. Suggesting that we shouldn’t feel sorry for him.
Also suggesting that his aggressive manner is inherent in his personality - contrast with his sincerity to his wife perhaps suggests that his aggressiveness is created by his job/environment.
- “should the tissue tear”
Extended Metaphor - continues from “thin tissue over violence.
Raises the possibility of the cop resorting to savage or brutal behavior.
Again, the comparison of what holds him back from this behaviour to a” tissue” suggests how quickly and easily yhis could happen.
