How would you interpret this phrase?
I have wondered, Why shouldn’t I let Mrs. Brown live here? We already work together, I have an empty bedroom. You see, I am dumb as a calf, trying to divine the rules about such things. In Mexico all manner of people could live in one house, half carrying hearts on their sleeves and the other half carrying side-arms, all rolled in one chalupa. But no, not here. Even a dumb calf gains a dim understanding, after enough blows to the head! We would be hung out as filthy laundry in Echo and Star Week. Children would be instructed to cross to the opposite side of the street, to pass the house.

How would you interpret this phrase: half carrying hearts on their sleeves and the other half carrying side-arms?
PS: the narrator was a novelist and Mrs. Brown was his secretary working in his house.
Thanks! And this excerpt is taken from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.

Question

How would you interpret this phrase?
I have wondered, Why shouldn’t I let Mrs. Brown live here? We already work together, I have an empty bedroom. You see, I am dumb as a calf, trying to divine the rules about such things. In Mexico all manner of people could live in one house, half carrying hearts on their sleeves and the other half carrying side-arms, all rolled in one chalupa. But no, not here. Even a dumb calf gains a dim understanding, after enough blows to the head! We would be hung out as filthy laundry in Echo and Star Week. Children would be instructed to cross to the opposite side of the street, to pass the house.

How would you interpret this phrase: half carrying hearts on their sleeves and the other half carrying side-arms?
PS: the narrator was a novelist and Mrs. Brown was his secretary working in his house.
Thanks! And this excerpt is taken from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.

Answer

I think the author is just trying to tell how the people in Mexico live in the same house although they are different from each other. "To wear your heart on your sleeve" is just an idiom that means that you express your emotions openly, like some Latin Americans. "Side-arms" are weapons, such as pistols. The other half of the people in this sentence are trying to defend themselves, or they are just violent. However, if you think about it, violent people are often emotional too, so the two types of people are not necessarily opposites. I hope no one thinks I am (or the author is) stereotyping Mexicans. In my opinion, each culture in the world has positive and negative aspects. Furthermore, I believe we shouldn't judge by appearances. Are you a translator, Gordon, or do you just enjoy reading English books?

Answers · 2

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