How would you interpret this sentence?
I signed the letter and handed it back. “I’m inclined in this case to stand out of the way. If I ever had to choose, I might just be a coward and save my own skin.”
“That’s people,” she said. “That’s how the Good Lord made us to be.”
“No, I’ve known brave men. Lev saw his children murdered, and never gave in. Even young boys, like Sheldon Harte. I’m told they loved life even more than I do, it’s why they became revolutionaries. And ended up bludgeoned, or dead in a lime pit.”
She stood waiting. For a happier ending, I suppose.
“What we end up calling history is a kind of knife, slicing down through time. A few people are hard enough to bend its edge. But most won’t even stand close to the blade. I’m one of those. We don’t bend anything.”

How would you interpret this sentence: What we end up calling history is a kind of knife?
Does it mean we end up call history a kind of knife?
Thanks!

Question

How would you interpret this sentence?
I signed the letter and handed it back. “I’m inclined in this case to stand out of the way. If I ever had to choose, I might just be a coward and save my own skin.”
“That’s people,” she said. “That’s how the Good Lord made us to be.”
“No, I’ve known brave men. Lev saw his children murdered, and never gave in. Even young boys, like Sheldon Harte. I’m told they loved life even more than I do, it’s why they became revolutionaries. And ended up bludgeoned, or dead in a lime pit.”
She stood waiting. For a happier ending, I suppose.
“What we end up calling history is a kind of knife, slicing down through time. A few people are hard enough to bend its edge. But most won’t even stand close to the blade. I’m one of those. We don’t bend anything.”

How would you interpret this sentence: What we end up calling history is a kind of knife?
Does it mean we end up call history a kind of knife?
Thanks!

Answer

The character is comparing history to a knife.  The context is not entirely clear.

We may well ask,  "Is history like a knife because pain and suffering are in it?

Other questions arise, and the statement is not presented will as some fact about life.
One might just as well conclude that history is like a hammer, or a flower,  or a fresh wind or  a hurricane.

Answer

It's a metaphor. You need to infer the meaning frome the other sentences. It's about human nature. It means that people respond to events and trends, including dangerous ones, which become history, in different ways. A few people are brave and face them. A few are also strong enough to make a slight difference. Most are not brave or strong enough. Most people would run away, hide, protect themselves etc.

Answer

Saying 
"We end up calling history is a kind of knife" 
Does not make much sence. But because you said "is a kind of knife" then it could be interpreted in that way. The second half of the sentence "slicing though time." Let's people know that you are not trying to say that history is called a knife so it makes a little sence.

You could say. 
"What we end up calling history is kind of like a knife, slicing down through time."
Or
"What we call History, is kind of life a knife slicing down though time"
Or
"History is kind of like a knife slicing down through time."

Any of these could possibly work.

Hope this is helpful :)

Answers · 4

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