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Tue 3 Sep, 2013 09:14 pm
Perhaps in the shadowy half-light her boy would come and sit with her again for awhile and let her look her last upon his loved face; she could never touch him again or hear his laughing, petulant voice, but surely she might look on her dead.
this woman is thinking about her dead son. So here, does "her dead" mean "her son"? If yes, then what does "look on her dead son" mean? "look at him"?
Thanks
Yes, it means look on her dead son. It is a common expression in English to refer to those of one's loved ones who have died as "the dead," or in this case, that of a woman, as "her dead." Were it a man, one would use the appropriate possessive pronoun and say "his dead." It is understood that the expression refers to the loved ones of the person in quewtion who have died.
In that sentence, 'but surely she might look on her dead." means:
but it would be OK to gaze and think about her dead son.
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