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Park sang joon Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
The analyses of a text #1
The narrator recalls his childhood.
He and Peggotty, the only maid of his house came to Yarmouth, her hometown and visited her brother, Mr. Peggotty's house.
They stayed there several days.
They just now came back home, and he knew his mother was remarried, and that his bedroom was removed to another place; he cried himself to sleep in his old bedroom.
"Davy," said my mother, "Davy, my child!"
I dare say no words she could have uttered would have affected me so much, then, as her calling me her child. I hid my tears in the bedclothes, and pressed her from me with my hand, when she would have raised me up.
"This is your doing, Peggotty, you cruel thing!" said my mother. "I have no doubt at all about it. How can you reconcile it to your conscience. I wonder, to prejudice my own boy against me, or against anybody who is dear to me? What do you mean by it, Peggotty?"
Poor Peggotty lifted up her hands and eyes, and only answered, in a sort of paraphrase of the grace I usually repeated after dinner, "Lord forgive you, Mrs. Copperfied, and for what you have said this minute, may you never be truly sorry!"
[David Copperfield by Charles Dickens]
I'd like t know what "you reconcile it your conscience" means.
I think "it" means narrator's mother's criticism in "What do you mean by it."
If so, I was wondering why it is "What do you mean by it," not "What will you mean by it."
Thank you in advance for your help.
He and Peggotty, the only maid of his house came to Yarmouth, her hometown and visited her brother, Mr. Peggotty's house.
They stayed there several days.
They just now came back home, and he knew his mother was remarried, and that his bedroom was removed to another place; he cried himself to sleep in his old bedroom.
"Davy," said my mother, "Davy, my child!"
I dare say no words she could have uttered would have affected me so much, then, as her calling me her child. I hid my tears in the bedclothes, and pressed her from me with my hand, when she would have raised me up.
"This is your doing, Peggotty, you cruel thing!" said my mother. "I have no doubt at all about it. How can you reconcile it to your conscience. I wonder, to prejudice my own boy against me, or against anybody who is dear to me? What do you mean by it, Peggotty?"
Poor Peggotty lifted up her hands and eyes, and only answered, in a sort of paraphrase of the grace I usually repeated after dinner, "Lord forgive you, Mrs. Copperfied, and for what you have said this minute, may you never be truly sorry!"
[David Copperfield by Charles Dickens]
I'd like t know what "you reconcile it your conscience" means.
I think "it" means narrator's mother's criticism in "What do you mean by it."
If so, I was wondering why it is "What do you mean by it," not "What will you mean by it."
Thank you in advance for your help.
Top answer
" is asking her how she is able, in her own mind, to justify or excuse what she has allegedly done. e. prejudicing the boy against his mother.
- " is asking her how she is able, in her own mind, to justify or excuse what she has allegedly done.
- e.
- prejudicing the boy against his mother.
- "
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1 Answers
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"How can you reconcile it to your conscience?" is asking her how she is able, in her own mind, to justify or excuse what she has allegedly done.
In both bold phrases, "it" refers to what the maid has allegedly done, i.e. prejudicing the boy against his mother.
"What do you mean by it?" means "What is your purpose/intention in doing this?"
In both bold phrases, "it" refers to what the maid has allegedly done, i.e. prejudicing the boy against his mother.
"What do you mean by it?" means "What is your purpose/intention in doing this?"
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