How would you interpret the word ‘the weights on a doll's eyes’ in the first sentence? Does it mean the movable part of the doll’s eyes, something like human pupil? Thanks. It’s from A Farewell to Arm

Wu Ting

How would you interpret the word ‘the weights on a doll's eyes’ in the first sentence? Does it mean the movable part of the doll’s eyes, something like human pupil? Thanks. It’s from A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway (Chapter 9). the context: I sat up straight and as I did so something inside my head moved like the weights on a doll's eyes and it hit me inside in back of my eyeballs. My legs felt warm and wet and my shoes were wet and warm inside. I knew that I was hit and leaned over and put my hand on my knee. My knee wasn't there. My hand went in and my knee was down on my shin…

Apr 18, 2016 10:44 AM

Answers · 9

Good image doll eye weights. Old dolls had a mechanism that connected the eyes to a weight, similar to a pendulum hanging below them. He is saying that he feels like that weight hit him in the back of his eyes, as if there was metal in his head that rammed into the back of his eyes.

April 18, 2016

I think it's the way that dolls open/close their eyes when moved, so they appear to sleep when laid down. Obviously there must be a weight attached to the eyelid, to move it..

April 18, 2016

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