What are” one night cheap hotels” and “sawdust restaurant”
The speaker of the poem, is on a walk with a companion. From the title of the poem the reader can assume that Prufrock’s company is a woman that he is in love with. On most romantic walks a couple walks through a nice, romantic area. Prufrock, however, chooses probably the least romantic place to be. Prufrock takes his love on a walk through “half-deserted streets,” where people walk around “muttering” to themselves. The streets are also filled with “one-night cheap hotels.” Meaning these are the types of hotels that a person stays for one night mostly as a last resort.
These streets have restaurants, which should make them nicer, however, Prufrock calls them “sawdust restaurants” meaning dirty and unappealing. The restaurants also described with oyster shells, meaning that the floors are littered with the shells. This is another way to show that the restaurants are dirty and disgusting. This entire description of the streets makes them seem like the kind of places with creepy criminals and prostitutes. Prufrock then discusses the streets, “like a tedious argument of insidious intent.” Arguments are trick, confusing, and very tough. The streets are just as confusing and tough as arguments, it’s easy to get lost on them. However, I think that Prufrock could be the tedious argument, confusing and tricking his love to take a walk on the creepy and disgusting streets. These awful streets “lead you to an overwhelming question.” This grabs the reader attention with the reader thinking Prufrock is finally going into detail about why this walk is important. However, he doesn’t tell the reader, he doesn’t even want the reader to ask the “overwhelming question.” The reader is to now assume that the only way to know what the question is, is to continue reader about the walk through the streets
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