How would you interpret this sentence’ I’m not, on purpose’? Does he mean he was not dull, he just pretended to be dull on purpose? Or does he mean he didn’t pretend to be dull on purpose? Thanks. It’s from A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (Chapter Six). the context: "I wish there was some place we could go," I said. I was experiencing the masculine difficulty of making love very long standing up. "There isn't any place," she said. She came back from wherever she had been. "We might sit there just for a little while." We sat on the flat stone bench and I held Catherine Barkley's hand. She would not let me put my arm around her. "Are you very tired?" she asked. "No." She looked down at the grass. "This is a rotten game we play, isn't it?" "What game?" "Don't be dull." "I'm not, on purpose." "You're a nice boy," she said. "And you play it as well as you know how. But it's a rotten game."