A line from the TV series "The Blacklist"

[ianian]

In the following paragraph from the TV series "The Blacllist", what do "the Wall" and "the River" refer to?

Reddington: Have you ever sailed across an ocean, Donald...on a sailboat, surrounded by sea with no land in sight, without even the possibility of sighting land for days to come? To stand at the helm of your destiny. I want that, one more time. I want to be in the Piazza del Campo in Siena. To feel the surge as 10 racehorses go thundering by. I want another meal in Paris, at L'Ambroisie, at the Place des Vosges. I want another bottle of wine. And then another. I want the warmth of a woman and a cool set of sheets. One more night of jazz at the Vanguard. I want to stand on the summits and smoke Cubans and feel the sun on my face for as long as I can. Walk on the Wall again. Climb the Tower. Ride the River. Stare at the Frescos. I want to sit in the garden and read one more good book. Most of all I want to sleep. I want to sleep like I slept when I was a boy. Give me that, just one time. That's why I won't allow that punk out there to get the best of me, let alone the last of me."

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[Tarheel]

My guess is "Walk the Wall again" refers to The Great Wall of China. As for the others, I have no idea.

 

[ianian]

My guess is "Walk the Wall again" refers to The Great Wall of China. As for the others, I have no idea.

The problem is that the guy had never been to China in the TV series, so he was not able to do it AGAIN.

 

[Tarheel]

Well, that was my best guess. (Usually context is more helpful than it is there.)

 

[ianian]

Well, that was my best guess. (Usually context is more helpful than it is there.)

Thanks anyway.

 

[Rover_KE]

The problem is that the guy had never been to China in the TV series ...

The series couldn't cover everywhere he'd ever been or everything he'd ever done in his life.

 

[emsr2d2]

My guesses would be The Great Wall of China, Hadrian's Wall or the Berlin Wall, the Eiffel Tower, Sears Tower or Shanghai Tower, and the river could be anything! However, they don't matter.
As Rover said, we wouldn't expect the series to actually indicate all these places. The person is simply reminiscing about stuff they've done in their life and want to do again. You don't need to know the locations to understand the sentiment.

 

[jutfrank]

I don't think he's talking about any particular wall, tower, or river. What's specific is the experience, not the place.

 

[ianian]

I don't think he's talking about any particular wall, tower, or river. What's specific is the experience, not the place.

Thanks. But the capital "W" and the capital "R" seem to indcate these are not generally mentioned, but are specifically mentioned. Do I have a point?

 

[ianian]

Thanks.

I agree to some extent. He just wants to go back to those places. But suppose if you are the author, do yout think you may have some specific places in mind when you say this sentence?

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, you have a point but I don't think it's a good one. The capitalisation attaches a significance to whatever those words are referring to, but that doesn't mean they're not meant as generic.

By the way, if this is from a TV show, in what way should these words be capitalised? Are you looking at subtitles or the actual script?

 

[ianian]

Yes, you have a point but I don't think it's a good one. The capitalisation attaches a significance to whatever those words are referring to, but that doesn't mean they're not meant as generic.

By the way, if this is from a TV show, in what way should these words be capitalised? Are you looking at subtitles or the actual script?

Sorry for the late reply. Actually this is not from subtitles. It is the actual script. I didn't know that "capitalisation" can also mean generic. Thank you for your comment.

 

[Tarheel]

He doesn't mean that capitalization indicates something is generic. He means he's not talking about any specific experience but those kinds of experiences. He remembers them fondly and would like to do them again.