im trying to read ‘a christmas carol’ by charles dickens quite literally one of the easiest books to read ever and i cant do it. at all. im trying to reread this one bit over and over and i am stressed out because my brain cant grasp it at all? what do i do? am i just stupid? english is my first language aswell and i have to read this by tomorrow, i’ve genuinely spent 2 hours reading this and got past 12 pages. wtf
‘The owner of one scant young nose, gnawed and mumbled by the hungry cold as bones are gnawed by dogs, stooped down at Scrooge’s keyhole to regale him with Christmas carol: but, at the first sound of - “God bless you, merry gentleman! May nothing you dismay!” Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of act that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole the fog and even more congenial’
is this just a normal sentence?? can you see where my confusions coming from or am i just dyslexic or whatever.
It’s really not hard if you just parse what’s being said. It’s like riddles but much easier to solve. You just need to get into the metaphor. What looks like overwritten prose there is just atmosphere buinding. The cold is biting the boy’s nose like a hungry dog - so imagine him with a red nose, probably a drop of snot hanging there that he’s not aware of because he’s numb with cold, and so on…