Lew slid like a snake from one architectural falsehood to the next, his working suits by the end of each day smudged white from rubbing against so much "staff," a mixture of plaster and hemp fibers, ubiquitous at the White City that season, meant to counterfeit some deathless white stone.
* * * * * * * * * *
Lew becomes reminiscent of some creature out of Greek mythology, some giant serpent-like creature, perhaps Medusa or large Naga, hunting its prey through marble arches. But the illusion is destroyed by the cheapness of his surroundings, obvious false fronts of buildings built with cheap material that transfers its color and fibers to anybody brushing past.
"counterfeit some deathless white stone"
Possibly an allusion to mankind's denial of their own mortality. All ambition of civilization is to ignore its own mortality, to pretend that the end of everything is the ultimate ending. Civilization in its entirety is a grand counterfeit of eternity, a play at pretending to build something that can outlast time.
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