Who is Tony in this text ?

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hela

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Hello,

Does anyone know this text taken from Revenge and Other Short Stories by A. Sillitoe?

1) Could you tell me if there are some printing or punctuation mistakes in the following passage?

2) Who is Tony, a man or a horse? Why does the author say "our Tony"? What does he mean by that?

3) What does he mean by :

a) "It was a warm day": Was it a nice or hot or muggy or hazy day?

b) "making a LAZY (or HAZY ?) atmosphere around the eyes": How would explain this metaphor?

c) "smoke sneaking off at right angles to chimneys and telly masts.": Was it a breeze or a stronger wind?

d) "By the pavement": "by" mean something like "from the pavement / standing on the pavement"?
But wasn't he supposed to be in the yard?

"Doris called for me at home, turned the corner, and came down our cobbled street on a horse. My brother Paul ran in and said: «Come and look at this woman (he was only nine) on a horse, our Tony!» and having nothing better to do while waiting for Doris but flip through the Mirror, I strode to the yard-end.
It was a warm day, dust in the wind making a lazy atmosphere around the eyes, smoke sneaking off at right angles to chimneys and telly masts.By the pavement I looked down the street and saw nothing but a man going across to the shop in shirtsleeves and braces, then swivelling my eyes the other way I saw this girl coming down the street on a walking horse."

Thank you very much for your help.
Hela​
 

Tdol

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Tony is the narrator- Paul's brother. Our + name is used in some regions in the UK when talking to or about family members.
2 Nice, I imagine
3 Not sure
4 We only know that the wind was strong enough to drive the smoke from the chimneys at this angle.
 

Erica90

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He talked to his brother who is Tony. Lazy atmosphere means mb that the desire to take some rest appears under the influence of this dust and wind.
 
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Smoke 'sneaking' off suggests to me that the wind breezy but not uncomfortably strong.
 

adamskingston

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Tony is Paul's brother, and he is talking to the author as well. I think so
 
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Eckaslike

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(Not a Teacher. A first language Englishman):

1) There are no mistakes

2) "our Tony"? See Tdol's comment above. This is a north English way of speaking about family members. It identifies him as "our Tony" rather than any other Tony that the family knows.

3) What does he mean by :

a) "It was a warm day": Was it a nice or hot or muggy or hazy day? It means it was a nice or pleasant day, but that is modified by what follows.

b) "making a LAZY (or HAZY ?) atmosphere around the eyes": How would explain this metaphor? It is "Lazy". This is a hard expression even for first language English speakers and I think you have to try and get a feeling as to what it means. It is an almost poetic way of saying that the air is laden with dust by the breeze as to make it hang around the eyes.

c) "smoke sneaking off at right angles to chimneys and telly masts.": Was it a breeze or a stronger wind? From what has gone before we know it can only be a breeze, since it is a warm day but with enough wind to pick up dust. However, it must be enough of a breeze at chimney top level to make the smoke go at right angles.

d) "By the pavement": "by" mean something like "from the pavement / standing on the pavement"?
But wasn't he supposed to be in the yard? It says "I strode to the yard-end" i.e. I went to the end of the yard. To me what follows implies one of two things. It is implied but not said: (i) He has walked to the end of the yard at the back of the house and gone down the passage which connects all the back yards onto the street. Or (ii) The house has some kind of workshop with a yard outside. He would then walk straight from the yard out to the road.

"By the pavement" is easy. It means that he was standing by, or next to, the pavement and not on it.
 
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ronanronan2015

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he is the narrator ....
 
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emsr2d2

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He is the narrator.

Note my correction above. You must start every sentence with a capital letter and end every sentence with a single, appropriate punctuation mark.
Your member profile shows that you are a teacher. If you are not an English teacher, you need to start each response with "Not a teacher". If you are an English teacher, it is worrying that your post was not written correctly.
 
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