How would you interpret this sentence?
How would you interpret this sentence ‘I'll wrap you up and don't bounce your head around’?
I think the doctor told the wounded two things:
1 He would wrap the wounds up for the wounded.
2 He asked the wounded not to bounce his head around, because the latter had gotten a fracture on his dead.
Some interpret it as that the speaker told the wounded that he would wrap the wounds for the latter so that the latter’s head wouldn’t bounce around. But I don’t agree with him. What do you think?
PS: the wounded had got his legs injured and a fracture on his dead.
Thanks. It’s from A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (Chapter 9).the context:
"I guess you've got a fracture all right. I'll wrap you up and don't bounce your head around." He bandaged, his hands moving very fast and the bandage coming taut and sure. "All right, good luck and Vive la France."
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 6
1
It is very clear medical advice to the patient not to bounce his head around. There is no ambiguity.
I can understand why you hesitated: Hemingway's English is so bad that when he occasionally writes clearly we are all very surprised.
1
To me that means "Don't bounce your head because of the fracture". Not that he would wrap it so that it would not bounce.
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