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- Feb 13, 2022
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I read this expression, "that after all, that despite everything", but am finding it difficult to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means? Here is the excerpt:
There was a pressure to his voice, to the way he spoke, and I saw that he understood, or was beginning to understand, how it had been for me those weeks he was away. And although there were things I had intended to say to him, words that had passed through my head many times, words that I had believed needed to be spoken between us, I said only this: I understand. I could understand anything, under the right circumstances and for the right person. It was both a strength and a weakness. I looked at his face and I thought it possible that after all, that despite everything, Adriaan was that person for me.
- Katie Kitamura, Intimacies, Chapter 16
This is a novel published in 2021 in the United States of America. The protagonist is an interpreter working at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Now she is thinking that perhaps she and her boyfriend Adriaan might succeed in spending the rest of their lives together without Adriaan's explanation about his recent silence.
In this part, I am having difficulties in understanding the underlined phrase.
I am thinking that perhaps we could do without the second "that", but I wonder what functions those two "that"s perform.
There was a pressure to his voice, to the way he spoke, and I saw that he understood, or was beginning to understand, how it had been for me those weeks he was away. And although there were things I had intended to say to him, words that had passed through my head many times, words that I had believed needed to be spoken between us, I said only this: I understand. I could understand anything, under the right circumstances and for the right person. It was both a strength and a weakness. I looked at his face and I thought it possible that after all, that despite everything, Adriaan was that person for me.
- Katie Kitamura, Intimacies, Chapter 16
This is a novel published in 2021 in the United States of America. The protagonist is an interpreter working at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Now she is thinking that perhaps she and her boyfriend Adriaan might succeed in spending the rest of their lives together without Adriaan's explanation about his recent silence.
In this part, I am having difficulties in understanding the underlined phrase.
I am thinking that perhaps we could do without the second "that", but I wonder what functions those two "that"s perform.
