A man removed from society
'Politics be damned!' issued clearly from the body on the left-hand side, and, as these words were uttered, the mouths, noses, chins, little moustaches, tweed caps, rough boots, shooting coats and check stockings of the two speakers became clearer and clearer; the smoke of their pipes went up into the air; nothing was so solid so living, so hard, red, hirsute and virile as these two bodies for miles and miles of sea and sandhill.
Who are these two men?
They are called Charles and John. The story opens with them walking along a beach having an argument. We do not know what it is about, but we do know that it is passionate. This extract opens with an exclamation which is an indicator of that passion. The description also emphasises how alive the two men seem. The verbs show that they live and feel about life deeply. The movements with the walking stick are 'lunging'; the way they sit on the beach is that they 'flung' themselves down; Charles' stick has been 'slashing' the beach.
We learn later in the story that John has rooms in Temple - this is a part of London that was (and still is) the home of many lawyers. It shows that John is a man of intelligence who is a trained lawyer, on the brink of a good career and about to stand for election as a Member of Parliament.
A matter of perception
