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Mon 21 Mar, 2011 07:38 pm
“I ’m going to make a statue when I get home,” she said,—“a statue which will personify Nevada, and represent the tameless, desolate, changeless, magnificent beauty and the self-sufficient loneliness of the desert. I can see it in my mind’s eye now. It will probably be the finest statue in the world.”
“If you ’d as lief put your ideal into a painting, I will give you a suggestion that will be original if nothing else,” he observed.
“What’s that?”
“Why, having in view these white alkali-patches that chiefly characterize Nevada, paint her as a leper.”
“That’s horrid!
You need n’t talk to me any more,” she exclaimed emphatically.
With this sort of chatter they had beguiled the time since leaving San Francisco the morning of the day before.
It seems that he is making a joke. Am I right?
I don't quite understand the meaning of "why" in
“Why, having in view these white alkali-patches that chiefly characterize Nevada, paint her as a leper.” Could anyone paraphrase this sentence for me?
@Justin Xu,
No paraphrase, but you can completely delete the word 'why' with no change in meaning. It's used often enough, but its purpose seems to be to make the speaker sound thoughtful.
@Justin Xu,
I don't think it's a joke. It seems that the author is trying to show the relationship between the two people was antagonistic. The lady sees the beauty, the man sees the scars.
@Ceili,
That's insightful, Ceili.
Joe(exactly right)Nation
@Justin Xu,
Quote:Why, having in view these white alkali-patches that chiefly characterize Nevada, paint her as a leper.
"Why" is being used in the sentence as an interjection to express impatience and scorn.
The speaker is being cynical, and the suggestion to paint Nevada as a leper can be taken as an ironic joke.
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