sequitur; it also contrasts with the previously serious and heavy overtones, seeming more optimistic in nature. The comparison of the unnamed city to a ‘modern-day jungle’ recalls Joyce’s personification of houses in ‘Araby’: ‘houses of the street, conscious ... gazed at one another’.This provides the narrator with surrogate fellow characters, in the absence of real other characters, with whom both the narrator and reader can more easily relate, while the ‘spider Buicks’ is a reference to a comment of Eddie Carbone’s in AView from the Bridge.The bathos of ‘architectural vomit’ contrasts the grandeur of art with a distinctly revolting image; this gives a sense of the paradox of a construction at once intricate and unsightly. The contradiction of ‘modest building with an immodest spire’ suggests the church is out of place in its environment. Similarly, the bathetic neon sign, ‘the church of latter-day sins’, suggests a disillusionment of modern society with religion, again like Joyce: ‘when the Christian Brother’s School set the boys free’. The biblical misquoting of ‘giveth ... taketh away’ suggests that the ‘jungle’ has taken on the role of God; His power and authority is reappropriated by the urban hubbub. However, it is left unclear as to whether or not this is a justified reappropriation; thus, the narrator is characterised as an indifferent observer. The vivid description of the historic scene, itself an attempt to emulate the huge productivity and imagination of one who knows they are about to die, is an example of micro-specificity, as the narrator pays great attention to detail, from the ‘loose-fitting jewellery’ to the ‘[b]eads of sweat’. Combined with the apparent randomness of the described sights, this suggests a heightened state of emotion. The ‘privileged lungs’ are both privileged in the sense of wealth or social status, and in the ironic sense of having to breathe in tobacco smoke.The metonymic ‘power-suit adjusts his bowtie’ implies that the narrator sees in the man only that one attribute (his expensive suit), which is itself a symbol of wealth and high society; the narrator thus characterises
17 94
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker