Actually, I had some problems interpreting the excerpt. To begin, the story seems very odd to me: a hunchback and a strong woman fighting with each other. The excerpt can be divided into three parts. First, the speaker is describing the people watching the two protagonists wrestling with each other. The second paragraph deals with the woman almost winning and pushing the hunchback down. In the last part, the hunchback regains control of the situation.
It is interesting how language is used to describe the characters in this story. The protagonists seem to appear as creatures rather than human beings. The man, Marvin Macy, is characterized as “hunchback” with “clawed little fingers“. Besides, Miss Amelia is described with “strong big hands“. Both are fighting with each other while making “deep hoarse breaths“. The whole scene is observed by other quests in the café who are making “strange noises“, too. So the characters feature through their animal features which make them appear rather inhuman.
Besides their outer appearance which strongly reminds me on animals, their behavior is not human as well. They act like beasts: “It was a terrible thing to watch […] At last she had him down, and straddled; her strong big hands were on his throat“. Another passage underlines these animal features: ”Yet at the instant Miss Amelia grasped the throat of Marvin Macy the hunchback sprang forward and sailed through the air as though he had grown hawk wings. He landed on the broad strong back of Miss Amelia and clutched at her neck and his clawed little fingers”.As I mentioned at the beginning, this excerpt is very odd. But the way the author dehumanized the characters so that we rather think of a fight between animals than humans makes it quite interesting.
It is interesting how language is used to describe the characters in this story. The protagonists seem to appear as creatures rather than human beings. The man, Marvin Macy, is characterized as “hunchback” with “clawed little fingers“. Besides, Miss Amelia is described with “strong big hands“. Both are fighting with each other while making “deep hoarse breaths“. The whole scene is observed by other quests in the café who are making “strange noises“, too. So the characters feature through their animal features which make them appear rather inhuman.
Besides their outer appearance which strongly reminds me on animals, their behavior is not human as well. They act like beasts: “It was a terrible thing to watch […] At last she had him down, and straddled; her strong big hands were on his throat“. Another passage underlines these animal features: ”Yet at the instant Miss Amelia grasped the throat of Marvin Macy the hunchback sprang forward and sailed through the air as though he had grown hawk wings. He landed on the broad strong back of Miss Amelia and clutched at her neck and his clawed little fingers”.As I mentioned at the beginning, this excerpt is very odd. But the way the author dehumanized the characters so that we rather think of a fight between animals than humans makes it quite interesting.
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