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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary
Caught in all the ornaments
Hello, I have here a very short passage from Kurt vonnegut's book "Slaughterhouse 5", I almost understand it, but what I don't get is what exactly happens to the person when his wedding ring gets caught by the door. The elevator goes down, and, normally, the person in it should go down as well, I don't understand why the man gets squashed. If someone could enlighten me on this I would be very grateful.
And how can the ring be caught in all the ornaments?
"The elevator door on the first floor was ornamental iron lace. Iron ivy snaked in and out of the holes. There was an iron twig with two iron lovebirds perched upon it.
This veteran decided to take his car into the basement, and he closed the door and started down, but his wedding ring was caught in all the ornaments. So he was hoisted into the air and the floor of the car went down, dropped out from under him, and the top of the car squashed him."
And how can the ring be caught in all the ornaments?
"The elevator door on the first floor was ornamental iron lace. Iron ivy snaked in and out of the holes. There was an iron twig with two iron lovebirds perched upon it.
This veteran decided to take his car into the basement, and he closed the door and started down, but his wedding ring was caught in all the ornaments. So he was hoisted into the air and the floor of the car went down, dropped out from under him, and the top of the car squashed him."
Top answer
I would it explain it thus. The ornamental iron door covers the opening to the elevator. It is part of the doorway leading to the elevator.
- I would it explain it thus.
- The ornamental iron door covers the opening to the elevator.
- It is part of the doorway leading to the elevator.
- It is not part of the elevator and does not travel with it.
- As the man closes the outside door (the one made of fancy ironwork), he catches his ring in it.
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8 Answers
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I would it explain it thus. The ornamental iron door covers the opening to the elevator. It is part of the doorway leading to the elevator. It is not part of the elevator and does not travel with it. As the man closes the outside door (the one made of fancy ironwork), he catches his ring in it. He is trapped there, inside the elevator, with his hand stuck on the outside wall. Meanwhil
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Well, that's exactly how I understood it. But I don't understand how a ring can get caught this firmly by the door.
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The door is not solid. It is an open, ornamental ironwork door. That means it is full of holes and crannies where you can get your fingers caught.
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I can imagine how an arm or a hand or fingers can get caught, but this is about a ring. Anyway, this isn't a matter of language, but the one of imagination. Thank you all:)
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We're talking about Kurt Vonnegut, right? If I recall corrrectly, there are a few other little details in his books that might not be exactly possible.
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