Brooklyn Cop

"Built like a gorilla"

Simile-image of a brutish, huge, powerful creature. Just as a gorilla is territorial and potentially aggressive, so too is the cop intimidating uncivilised and large

"Less timid"

Word choice-suggests confidence, brwve and aggression. Unlike the gorilla, this cop will challenge you

"thick-fleshed"

Word choice-suggests physical strength/difficult to hurt or cause him pain

"Steak-coloured"

Word choice-connotations of tough, meaty. Connotatioms of blood and violence. Weater-beaten

"Hieroglyphs"

Metaphor-just as hieroglyphs are difficult to decipher, so too are his eyes puzziling and difficult to read. Additionally, it could suggest the he has scars on his face that, again, tell us of the violent nature of his previous experiences

"That mean trouble"

Word chocie- suggests a long history of policing that area/he is always looking for danger

"Thin tissue over violence"

Metaphor-thin line between calm and chaos. Just as tissue is thin, weak and delicate, so too is peace fragile, delicate and can shatter at any moment. Suggest it is inevitable-the cop will fall through it and descend to violence. This tells us that violence is never far away in the streets that the main patrols

"See you babe"

Word choice-suggests a cliché but shows a softer side to the cop- as a loving husband
Contrast-the hard cop on the job vs the genital and normal domestic life

"He hoped it, he truly hoped it"

Repetition-suggests a sincere worry and sense of desperation. Suggests that thee is a real danger posed to him with his job. We sense some sympathy towards him here

"He is a gorilla"

Metaphor-repeating gorilla imagery. Moves from a simile to a more certain, definite image.
Suggests the more you come to know the cop, the more he does this job-the more violent animalistic and aggressive he becomes-cops themselves are the source of danger to the citizens of the borough

""Hiya honey" is no cliché"

Word choice-suggests a sincere affection for his wife. Highlights the contrast in his personality once more

"Should the tissue tear"

Alliteration of tissue suggests the fragility of the society and the downward spiral into violence. Alliteration creates a quick phrase which implies a sudden act

"Plunge"

Word choice-implies a forceful, abrupt, incontrollable and sudden fall. It has connotations of speed, moving in a fixed, downward direction

"What clubbing scene, what gunshots"

Word Choice-suggests chaos on the streets which are full of aggression and ferocity. Using plural suggests chaos and that it doesn't matter who gets caught up in the violence

"Phoebe's Whamburger" "Louie's Place"

Word choice-these real place names have connotations of gangsters and violence

"Gorilla with a nightstick"

Word choice nightstick has connotations of darkness, bluntness and violence but also suggests his protection against gunshots is limited

"this time"

Parenthesis of this time highlights his worries and the danger he faces every single time he patrols the streets

"Have to be"

Word choice-suggests the victims have no choice in the matter

"Victims?"

Word choice-suggests that they suffer either because of their background and environment or because of the cop's aggression-MacCaig invited us to sympathise with the cop's victims too.