0

I am (still) reading Metamorphosis(from Kafka) and can't figure out how to parse

彼は甲殻のように固い背中を下にして横たわり

Translated as

He lay on his armour-hard back

I suppose the japanese version litteraly looks more like

He lay on his back hard as a nutshell (or is it "on his hard back which looks like a nutshell" ?)

Here is what i don't understand :

  1. How to parse のように ? i know about ように ~ "trying to do something", Aのよう　~ seems/looks like A (exemplification) and the adverbial ように but none of them seems to apply here : am i wrong ?
  2. Does に in 背中を下にして横たわり make 下 into an adverb ? If not what's its meaning ? And if so then see 3.
  3. What's the use of を particle here ? Doesn't 下にして横たわり already have the sense of "to lay on his back" without the 背中を part ?
Eddie Kal
  • 11,332
  • 5
  • 19
  • 40
xavier
  • 199
  • 8

1 Answers1

3

  1. The main confusion is that Xのように in this context means "like/as X" rather than anything related to "trying to do".

  2. Xを下にして here means "with X facing down". を indicates that the thing which is facing down is 背中, his back.

Breaking this down, we have:

甲殻のように固い
As hard as a carapace

甲殻のように固い背中
(his) back, as hard as a carapace

甲殻のように固い背中を下にして
with (his) back, as hard as a carapace, facing down

彼は甲殻のように固い背中を下にして横たわり
lying down with his back, as hard as a carapace, facing down

jogloran
  • 5,738
  • 1
  • 23
  • 35
  • It's useful to think of Xを下にして as an adverbial modifier for 横たわる – Jimmy Yang Apr 06 '21 at 23:10
  • Thanks, but i still don't understand 2 things : 1. Why using に particle ? i thought Xのよう was ok 2. Is "with his back facing down" really adding information since he is already lying down ? Is there a nuance i don't see ? – xavier Apr 07 '21 at 18:57
  • 1
    甲殻のように固い背中を下にして is just a way for the author to bring up that Gregor has a hard shell for a back. Naturally the translation could just have said 彼は横たわった but this isn't the point of good writing. Kafka was not focusing on not adding unneeded information, but was rather using his words for effect. – jogloran Apr 07 '21 at 19:10
  • In this context, に indicates that this is an adverbial (since 甲殻のように modifies 固い). – jogloran Apr 07 '21 at 19:12