spear hands and smock fronts are lacquered

[meliss]

"Outside, I am aware of the sorry spectacle I present. Unlike my veteran countrymen, whose spear hands and smock fronts are lacquered like skilled workmen of the slaughterhouse, I am soaked from thigh to heel with alien blood and with my own, and with vomit, p*ss, and dirt. Lucas stanches my wound."
(The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield)

Hi, the scene takes place after a massacre in an Afghan village. Are their spear hands (hand with spare in it?) and smock fronts are really coated with lacquer? or this is a metaphor? If so, what they are coated with? And just one more thing. It seems to me that something is wrong with this part of the sentence: whose spear hands and smock fronts are lacquered like skilled workmen of the slaughterhouse. Shouldn't it be for instance like: whose spear hands and smock fronts are lacquered like those of skilled workmen of the slaughterhouse? Thank you.

 

[Tarheel]

Yes, I think "like those of skilled workmen" would make more sense. More context is needed.

Your spell checker isn't working.

 

[jutfrank]

The men are covered in blood. They resemble men who work in a slaughterhouse.

 

[meliss]

The men are covered in blood. They resemble men who work in a slaughterhouse.

But the narrator too is covered with blood. So why does he say "unlike my veteran countrymen"?

 

[jutfrank]

The parts of his body covered are different. Plus, he has his own blood on his body, along with p*ss, vomit and dirt.

 

[BobK]

Are their spear hands (hand with spare in it?) and smock fronts are really coated with lacquer? or this is a metaphor?

Yes. No. Yes (and not a very good one, it seems to me).

Generally (!) a person's '<implement> hand' is the hand holding that implement. (A fairly common idiom uses this: when someone is in a position of (often physical) control they can be said to have 'the whip hand').

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi.
The scene takes place after a massacre in an Afghan village. Are their spear hands (hands with a spare spear in) it?) and smock fronts are really coated with lacquer no question mark here or this is this a metaphor? If so, what they are coated with? And just one more thing.

Also, it seems to me that something is wrong with this part of the sentence: whose spear hands and smock fronts are lacquered like skilled workmen of the slaughterhouse. Shouldn't it be for instance something like no colon here "whose spear hands and smock fronts are lacquered like those of skilled workmen of the slaughterhouse"?

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Please note my corrections and comments above