Commentary

1. Mammon and the Archer

In this title the author makes use of one of the most expressive tropes—a metaphor. This is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used instead of another to suggest likeness or analogy between them. The metaphor may be expressed by any part of speech. Here Mammon (the god of riches of ancient Syrians) is a symbol of wealth, especially wealth having an evil power or debasing influence. An archer is a person skilled in the use of the bow and arrow. Here the archer stands for Cupid, the Roman love-god, usually shown in pictures and statues as a chubby naked boy with wings and a bow and arrow. (See the end of the story.) Cupid is used as a symbol of love. Juxtaposition of these two notions is meant to produce a humorous effect.

2. I bet my money on money every time.

I am ready to bet any sum of money any time for I put much confidence in the omnipotence of money.

3. …the appendix…

It is the supplement to the encyclopaedia, containing matter explanatory, but not essential to its completeness. It is mentioned here to intensify the comic effect, produced by old Rockwall’s speech in defence of his views.

4. I’m for money against the field.

The power of money is supreme (in sport “field” means all the persons taking part in a competition or contest).

5. …the champion of the root of evil.

One who speaks in defence of evil, here money.

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6. I’ve been noticing it for two weeks.

The Present Perfect Continuous is often used in colloquial speech. It denotes an action taking place for a certain period of time up to the moment of speech. The use of this form with verbs of perception is characteristic of emotional colloquial speech.

7. She’ll jump at you.

She will eagerly accept your proposal. The word “jump” is used metaphorically here.

8. Your hands are clean. You’ve no Eureka soap on ‘em.

You are a gentleman. The father means that personally Robert has nothing to do with “degrading” business and thus must be willingly accepted into the “exclusive circles” of society. The word “clean” is used figuratively.

It is interesting to note that though a common businessman Anthony Rockwall gives his soap a Greek name for advertising purposes. Eureka is a cry of triumph at a discovery. In English it means “I have found it!” this exclamation is attributed to Archimedes, Greek mathematician and inventor on discovering a method for determining the purity of gold.

9. You don’t know the social mill, dad. She’s part of the stream that turns it.

This is an example of prolonged or extended metaphor, that is the case when one word used in a transferred sense calls forth a transference of meaning in the whole sequence of words related to it. “The social mill” is a hackneyed or trite metaphor as it has been made common as the result of being very often in use.

10. She’s going to sail for Europe at noon day after to-morrow…

Note the absence of article before the noun “day”. In colloquial American speech articles are often dropped in adverbial modifiers of time.

11. Do you think she would listen to a declaration from me during that six or eight minutes under those circumstances?

Here the demonstrative pronoun “that” is used in the singular to denote a period of time as a whole.

12. That night came Aunt Ellen, gentle, sentimental, wrinkled, sighing, oppressed by wealth, in to Brother Anthony at his evening paper, and began discourse on the subject of lovers’ woes.

This is a case of inversion. It is common when a sentence begins with an adverbial modifier and the subject is accompanied by a lengthy attribute. This makes the position of the subject more prominent.

The words “Brother” and “Aunt” are often capitalized when they are used instead or with proper names.

The use of a prepositional phrase (“at his evening paper”) instead of a possible attributive clause or a participial phrase makes the writer’s remark more concise and matter-of-fact.