Jody
what does "the silence accented the toss and suck of the surf"mean?what does the "surf"here mean? “If I were an obsessed treasure hunter, what would I be looking for up here?” Not the treasure itself, Eli decided. “The Purloined Letter” aside, hiding in plain sight had its limits. No one could believe any of the previous occupants would have tucked a chest full of jewels away within the saggy divan or behind the spotty mirror. He wandered around, poking into boxes and trunks, tossing dust covers back over chairs. The light streamed in so motes danced in beams, and the silence of the house accented the toss and suck of the surf. He couldn’t imagine living with the army of servants who’d once slept in the warren of rooms, or gathered in the larger space for meals or gossip. There’d never be true solitude, true silence, and forget genuine privacy.
Jul 3, 2015 5:21 AM
Answers · 1
The "surf" here means the waves of the sea that break upon a shore. The "toss and suck" is an unusual construct by the author to convey the agitation and sound of those breaking waves. Normal use of that phrasing is refers to sexual activities. The silence provides a strong contrast to the sounds. Though I admit that I have a hard time imagining that, since surf is ongoing, so how would he hear the silence? Since he is walking around, maybe he sometimes hears the surf and sometimes not.
July 3, 2015
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!