This rock

[Coffee Break]

Hello everyone. I encountered this expression, "This rock", and I am wondering how it is connected to the previous sentence:

Think about women then or eating. Think about eating women, eating men, crunching up Alfred, that other girl, that boy, that crude and unsatisfactory experiment, lie restful as a log and consider the gnawed tunnel of life right up to this uneasy intermission.
This rock.
“I shall call those three rocks out there the Teeth.”

- William Golding, Pincher Martin, Chapter 6

This is a novel published in the United Kingdom in 1956. The novel mainly follows the state of mind of a sailor called Christopher "Pincher" Martin, a temporary naval lieutenant who is apparently desperately fighting for his life in the Atlantic after the military ship has sunk. Here, he has arrived at an island in the sea. He is now trying to sleep.

Here, I wonder whether it would be okay to understand that "this rock" is connected as "[consider ... right up to] this rock," to mean that he is considering his life all the way through, before arriving at this rock.

I would very much appreciate your help.

 

[Tarheel]

Why isn't your question about "Think about women then or eating"? That confuses me, so I would want to know what it means.

As for "This rock", I wouldn't call that an English expression, but it clearly has something to do with the story, and context should be helpful. (I'll have to read it again to be sure of what it refers to.)

 

[Tarheel]

The term "this rock' seems to refer to the island.

 

[Tarheel]

He was a navy lieutenant whose ship sank. He came ashore on an island.

 

[Coffee Break]

@Tarheel,

Thank you very much for the explanation.

The term "this rock' seems to refer to the island.

Yes, I really agree! I think this island is so small that it is sometimes referred to as "the rock" by the narrator.

Why isn't your question about "Think about women then or eating"? That confuses me, so I would want to know what it means.

Indeed, I agree that the concept of "eating" is very difficult to understand. I am struggling to grasp that concept as well. In case this might be helpful, I found some sentences that appear before this quote, in which the concept of "eating" is being described:

The whole business of eating was peculiarly significant. They made a ritual of it on every level, the Fascists as a punishment, the religious as a rite, the cannibal either as a ritual or as a medicine or as a superbly direct declaration to conquest. Killed and eaten. And of course eating with the mouth was only the gross expression of what was a universal process. You could eat with your cock or with your fists, or with your voice. You could eat with hobnailed boots or buying and selling or marrying and begetting or cuckolding——

So I am guessing that "eating" here is one way to conquest other beings, either sexually or physically.

In that case, would it be perhaps okay to understand that "this rock" can be connected to the previous sentence as "the gnawed tunnel of life right up to this uneasy intermission, and right up to this rock"...?

 

[Tarheel]

Well, Earth is sometimes referred to as "the third rock from the sun", so I'm not sure the size of the island is related to the use of that.

Reading further might help you to understand what you have read so far. (I don't know.)

Try:

He was a navy lieutenant. He was in the Atlantic Ocean when his ship sank. He swam until he saw an island. He made to shore. He made onto land. Exhausted, he fell onto his face.

 

[Coffee Break]

@Tarheel,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
I learned that the Earth can be referred to as the "rock" as well all thanks to you! Probably the use of "rock" here, referring to the island, might be related to that.

And thank you for suggesting the book description; I think my book description would be better if I corrected it that way.
I sincerely appreciate your help.

 

[Tdol]

Some say that the rock/island/tooth Golding had in mind was Rockall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockall

 

[Tarheel]

I suppose I could land on that if I was a bird. Otherwise, I think not.

 

[Coffee Break]

@Tdol and @Tarheel,

Thank you very much for the explanations and the link.
I really see that it is just a huge rock rather than an island... There appears to be no tree or whatever. It must have been hard for Martin to survive on that rock.
I sincerely appreciate your help.

 

[Tdol]

It's a truly wonderful book.

 

[Tarheel]

Is it a true story?

 

[probus]

Is it a true story?

No. It is a work of fiction.

 

[Coffee Break]

Actually, I've been thinking about this part for a while, but I could not solve the mystery by myself so I just wanted to ask you again.

Would the underlined "this rock" be connected to the previous sentence as:

(1) ... consider this rock.
(2) ... consider the gnawed tunnel of life right up to this rock.

In short, I wonder whether "this rock" is connected to "consider", or "right up to" in the previous sentence.

 

[probus]

Your question is unclear. Please try rephrasing it. The phrase "right up to ..." is adjectival, modifying the noun tunnel.

 

[Tarheel]

I'm having a hard time figuring out what you're talking about. Off the top of my head, I'd say it definitely is connected to the previous sentence. (It's a novel.) However, you have given me nothing to look at. So I can't comment any further.

I can't figure out why you are stuck there.

 

[jutfrank]

The verb consider is connected to the gnawed tunnel of life.

If I understand your thinking correctly (I'm not sure if I do), that's number (2) in your post #14.

 

[Coffee Break]

@probus, @Tarheel and @jutfrank,

Thank you very much for the explanations.
I am sorry my question was unclear. I was just wondering to which component of the previous sentence "this rock" is connected grammatically...

So it is (2)! He is telling himself to consider the tunnel of life, which is immediately connected to (=right up to) this uneasy intermission, and also connected to this rock.
I truly appreciate your help.

 

[Tarheel]

@Coffee Break I had to look at the OP to figure out what you meant. Unfortunately, I was not successful.


I am usually participating in a dozen threads at a time. For some reason, people often expect me to know what they're talking about and to do do from memory.