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Cover your low heart?

The following paragraph is quoted from Martin Amis's "Time's Arrow".

"This body: his pride in it, I firmly speculate, is connected to the fear that someone might hurt it – might mutilate or demolish it. Now why would anyone want to go and do a thing like that? Doctors may want to; but Tod doesn't use doctors; he doesn't go near doctors. "You don't want to listen to doctors," he tells Irene, coming as close as he ever does to talking and smiling at the same time. "They'll try to get their knives in you. Don't ever let them get their knives in you." Sleek and colorful before the mirror in the bathroom, Tod feels pride that has a wince or a flinch it. Go on, I want to say. Mime it out. Bend and cringe with your hands on you loins. Cover your low heart. (p.67)

My questions: What does "bend and cringe with your hands on you lions" mean? What does "Cover your low heart" mean?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: "loins" are genitals. this whole passage is, among other subtle things, a sly way of getting at the character's fear of genital mutilation. the narrator's command at the end: "mime it out" is his exhortation to the character to cover his package. the "low heart" is his genitals.

amis is saying a lot about his character with this paragraph. he is both proud of and afraid for his masculinity. his heart is set low--in his dick--rather than high--in his mind or in his spirit. this is not a thoughtful or considerate man. he's not secure in his manhood.