Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[ClarissaMach]

In the sentence below, which name is "her" referring to?

There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs�commerce surrounds it with her surf.
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Stormy Weather.

[redset]

The her is commerce - it's a poetic way of describing the wharves and docks which bring in goods and trade, which roll into the city like waves.

[ClarissaMach]

But is "commerce" a feminine word?
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Stormy Weather.

[redset]

English doesn't associate nouns with a gender (except for pronouns and nouns which refer specifically to a man or to a woman, like actress) but some people refer to certain things as feminine - a common example is when sailors refer to ships as 'she', it's also sometimes used for countries, cars etc.

It's a way of imagining that something inanimate has a personality or characteristics of a person, and usually referring to something as feminine means that it's dear to us, or maternal in some way. Commerce could be seen as the lifeblood of the town, bringing in goods and wealth and helping it to survive and grow, so it's quite poetic to think of it as a feminine concept. Also, the sea is sometimes considered feminine (sailors again - there's a phrase, 'the sea is a cruel mistress') and since it's being used here as a metaphor for commerce, that could be another reason to use she instead of it.

[ClarissaMach]

Thaks once more, RedSet!

"Also, the sea is sometimes considered feminine (sailors again - there's a phrase, 'the sea is a cruel mistress')[. . .]"

It reminds me of a passage of "The old man and the sea", when Santiago (the old man) says that he prefer referring to the sea like she was a woman--just like the French does ("La mer").
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Stormy Weather.

[redset]

Yeah, exactly! It probably goes back to when everyone associated everything in nature with gods and goddesses.