What does this mean “This poor gambler isn’t even a noun. He is kind of an adverb.”?

This is a queston that's popped up in my head while reading "The Blue Hotel" by: Stephen crane.

What I have doesn't really make sense i just compared an adverb to a noun.

Is it saying that he doesn't act like a man but he describes as a murderor.???

The guy speaking (the Easterner) is saying that the gambler ("that fool of an unfortunate gambler") seems to have stumbled into the scene when the murder was happening. The others apparently were the actual murderers, and the gambler was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Whoah!! I was way off.. Thank You:)

You're welcome. =)

In the line "This poor gambler isn't even a noun. He is kind of an adverb," the speaker is using figurative language to describe the poor gambler. This sentence is an example of personification, where human characteristics are attributed to an inanimate object or an abstract idea.

To understand the meaning of this sentence, it's important to remember that the speaker is not making a literal comparison between a noun and an adverb. Instead, they are using figurative language to convey their perception of the poor gambler.

When the speaker says "This poor gambler isn't even a noun," they are emphasizing the lack of importance or significance attributed to the gambler. In grammar, a noun is a person, place, thing, or idea, and is considered a central and essential element in a sentence. By saying the gambler isn't even a noun, the speaker is suggesting that the gambler is insignificant or unimportant.

When the speaker continues by saying "He is kind of an adverb," they are extending the figurative comparison. In grammar, an adverb typically modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, describing how, when, where, or to what extent something is done. By saying the gambler is kind of an adverb, the speaker is possibly relating the gambler's behavior or actions to those of an adverb, suggesting that the gambler's actions may be erratic, unpredictable, or lacking a clear purpose.

In summary, the sentence is using figurative language to convey the speaker's perception of the poor gambler as being insignificant or unimportant, and their behavior as being erratic or lacking purpose.

http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=CraBlue.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all

You cannot take it out of context and make sense of it. Read the entire paragraph below. Think about how the 5 men responsible for the murder are described. Then think about the difference in functions between nouns and adverbs. What conclusions do you draw?

"Fun or not," said the Easterner, "Johnnie was cheating. I saw him. I know it. I saw him. And I refused to stand up and be a man. I let the Swede fight it out alone. And you -- you were simply puffing around the place and wanting to fight. And then old Scully himself! We are all in it! This poor gambler isn't even a noun. He is kind of an adverb. Every sin is the result of a collaboration. We, five of us, have collaborated in the murder of this Swede. Usually there are from a dozen to forty women really involved in every murder, but in this case it seems to be only five men -- you, I, Johnnie, old Scully, and that fool of an unfortunate gambler came merely as a culmination, the apex of a human movement, and gets all the punishment."