Demons

[ida2]

Hi,

What does "demons" mean, in the following sentence?

"Yet for each dustpan he so laboriously filled at the door-sill demons added to the rug twenty more; he saw in the expanse behind him the dust that he had raised settling again into the carpet."

Source: Go Tell It on the Mountain, by James Baldwin

 

[GoesStation]

Unknown malevolent entities.

 

[GoesStation]

I haven't read the quoted book, but my guess is that Baldwin was not speaking literally. I read it as a way to describe the character's frustration with his inability to get the carpet clean by sweeping it; it seemed to get dirty faster than he could clean it.