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Noun + numeral
Dec 30, 2021 04:35
2 yrs ago
43 viewers *
English term

My heart was wrapped in paper

English Art/Literary Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
Hello,
the sentence "my heart was wrapped in paper" what does it mean?
Responses
3 +3 My emotions were close to the surface
4 +2 it was as if my heart was giftwrapped for her
4 My heart was comminuted / crushed / devastated /knotted
Change log

Dec 30, 2021 04:34: Karen Zaragoza changed "Vetting" from "Needs Vetting" to "Vet OK"

Dec 30, 2021 04:35: Karen Zaragoza changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"

Discussion

Yvonne Gallagher Jan 13, 2022:
@ All once again an asker can't be bothered to choose an answer and lets it go to peer agreement so a wrong answer is chosen based on that. Ridiculous! What a waste of my time. My answer, as I have said, is not guesswork but based on actually READING the first chapters of the story. I already included the link but obviously other people, couldn't be bothered reading it
https://books.google.ie/books?id=UqOZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18&lpg=PT...
Lisa Rosengard Jan 4, 2022:
I'd like to ask if the paper-wrapping metaphor could possibly imply a form of protection or seclusion surrounding a damaged heart. A protection or resistance could develop through time as a response to the traumas, trials and tribulations of a difficult period in life.
Yvonne Gallagher Dec 31, 2021:
@ all it is actually explained in Chapter 1, now I have read it so I am 100% sure.

"my identifier token for my baby, half a heart, made of whalebone, wrapped in the record paper (by the Foundling Hospital clerk)
Yvonne Gallagher Dec 31, 2021:
@ Allegro @ Phil No, I don't have a lot of free time at all but Phil's link, while giving general context, didn't give enough of the surrounding text for this line so I went looking for the story. I only read enough pages to get the gist of what was happening at that particular juncture.

Happy New Year!
Rocsana Guignaudeau Dec 30, 2021:
We need the context.
AllegroTrans Dec 30, 2021:
Yvonne Happy New Year! You obviously have more time than me, but I'm sure you have located the asker's "story". Asker, please take note, the site expects you to provide CONTEXT
Yvonne Gallagher Dec 30, 2021:
@ AT my link gives more of the story so my answer is not really guesswork.
But yes, in questions like these it is important we are given context. None of us should have to go looking for the story or have to spend time reading it.
AllegroTrans Dec 30, 2021:
Asker Please post surrounding text and tell us the general "story". Otherwise, we can only make guesses
philgoddard Dec 30, 2021:
We already have two convincing and very different answers, which proves my point :-)
philgoddard Dec 30, 2021:
Here's the context http://theresasmithwrites.com/2020/02/05/book-review-the-fou...
It's literature, so there's no "right answer".
Darius Saczuk Dec 30, 2021:
@Mona What is the exact context? No context, no meaning.

Responses

+3
6 hrs
Selected

My emotions were close to the surface

This is literature, so open to interpretation, but as I understand it, the woman is feeling vulnerable and does not know what to expect. A mixture of fear and hope, expectation and dread.

Something valuable and delicate would normally be carefully packed and protected in a box, not just covered in flimsy paper, which perhaps reveals what is inside.

A more widely known expression is ´my heart was in my mouth´.
Peer comment(s):
agree Tina Vonhof (X) : Vulnerable, afraid of what to expect. That was my impression as well.
5 hrs
agree Rocsana Guignaudeau
7 hrs
agree Badri Seyed Jalali
18 hrs
neutral Yvonne Gallagher : NO. This is guesswork. Of course she is emotional but this is not what it means when you actually read the story prior to this line. Then it's 100% clear
1 day 6 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+2
9 hrs

it was as if my heart was giftwrapped for her

her babty had just been born but was taken away from her almost immediately. I read a bit of the next chapter to discover she was a young unmarried mother in appalling circumstances, missing her own moither who had died when she herself was a child...

So, to me, "wrapped in paper" is like saying that her heart has been given to this baby, like a gift, although she has been taken away from her

https://books.google.ie/books?id=UqOZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT18&lpg=PT...

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Note added at 9 hrs (2021-12-30 14:31:27 GMT)
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and yes, "wrapped in paper", implies her heart is delicate and fragile. Probably broken too given her circumstances

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Note added at 23 hrs (2021-12-31 03:47:22 GMT)
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OK I went back and read the first chapter and am now 100% sure what this refers to.

When she (Bess) is leaving her baby Clara at the Foundling hospital she is asked if she has a token to leave as an identifier, in case she wants to reclaim the baby later. She leaves half a heart, made from whalebone (the child's father has the other half she explains) with her initial B and the baby's C scratched on it. The clerk makes a record and folds the record paper over the heart

So this means: "my identifier token for my baby, half a heart, made of whalebone, was wrapped in the record paper (by the Foundling hospital clerk)
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard : Well done - you got there eventually, and it looks like the asker hadn't seen (or remembered) the additional context that you found. I think it's also probably metaphorical. Sadly, you probably won't get any thanks or points.
21 hrs
Thanks. there is an image of the (half) heart at top of each chapter! And explained in the early pages (Chapter 1), so really clear enough...
agree Anastasia Kalantzi
9 days
Thanks. I've given the link to the e-book above if you want to read it.
Something went wrong...
9 days

My heart was comminuted / crushed / devastated /knotted

And after having read some good part of the book's contexte fortunately provided below in the discussion by Philgoddard and this is truly an excellent literary work. I'd like to find it and e-read it at the very least.

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Note added at 9 ημέρες (2022-01-08 23:15:39 GMT)
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But there again, now I've read Yvonne's point of view I tend to agree with her.
Something went wrong...
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