How would you interpret ‘blue’ here?
MacArthur says the great tragedy has ended. We turned on the wireless, and the assured voices seemed to bring the boy back around. This man MacArthur rode horses once, cheered on by a pack of boys not much older than Romulus. Sometimes playing polo behind the academy, other times commanding bayonets into the breasts of the Bonus Marchers. “The skies no longer rain death,” he said now. “Men walk upright in the sunlight and the entire world lies quietly at peace.” MacArthur claimed he spoke for thousands of silent lips, forever stilled among the jungles and in the deep waters of the ocean. But how could he speak for so many silent lips lying blue beneath the water? Little fish are surely pecking at them now, nourished by worlds of misfortune.

How would you interpret ‘blue’ in the second to last sentence: …lying blue beneath the water?
Does the author mean to give reader the impression that the sea is blue, the dead bodies look blue and depressed?
Thanks!

Question

How would you interpret ‘blue’ here?
MacArthur says the great tragedy has ended. We turned on the wireless, and the assured voices seemed to bring the boy back around. This man MacArthur rode horses once, cheered on by a pack of boys not much older than Romulus. Sometimes playing polo behind the academy, other times commanding bayonets into the breasts of the Bonus Marchers. “The skies no longer rain death,” he said now. “Men walk upright in the sunlight and the entire world lies quietly at peace.” MacArthur claimed he spoke for thousands of silent lips, forever stilled among the jungles and in the deep waters of the ocean. But how could he speak for so many silent lips lying blue beneath the water? Little fish are surely pecking at them now, nourished by worlds of misfortune.

How would you interpret ‘blue’ in the second to last sentence: …lying blue beneath the water?
Does the author mean to give reader the impression that the sea is blue, the dead bodies look blue and depressed?
Thanks!

Answer

No, they drowned. Their lips are blue from lack of oxygen.

Answer

Whenever there's any mention of being "blue in the face" in English, it refers literally to one's face turning blue when they are not able to breath. It's usually used to convey frustration or exasperation at something that isn't working, e.g. "I complained until I was blue in the face".

Your example is using it as a poetic way of conveying the fact that those people are dead. It doesn't appear to have anything to do with the sea being blue. Hope this helps!

Answers · 2

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