"To Kill a Mockingbird" -a literary classic, but some doubts

Question

This is from the story book "To Kill A Mockingbird":

"He liked Maycomb, he was Maycomb County born and bred; he knew his people, they knew him, and because of Simon Finch's industry, Atticus was related by blood or marriage to nearly every family" (Chapter 1, page 5 in my edition, Arrow books 2010).

What I would want to know is at the beginning of the sentence, what does "He liked Maycomb" function as (Is it an absolute phrase?). Is it a modifier of "He was Maycomb County ...bred" and then "he knew his people, they knew him" (again is "they knew him" is another absolute?).

As far as my understanding , two independent clause cannot stand side-by-side in a single sentence. However, I know (my ears say) that it is a right sentence.
Now, is this a special situation where GMAC differs from normal English grammar ( in that case, even in normal grammar, a run-on is a run-on).

Thanks for your help.

Sayantan

prasun9 · Answer

Well that's the difference between business guys and creative guys

Run on sentences are not allowed in business writing but they are encouraged in Poetry, Music and Story telling (mostly in old English) The official term for it is Enjambment . In poetry, enjambment or enjambement is incomplete syntax at the end of a line; the meaning runs-over from one poetic line to the next, without terminal punctuation. Lines without enjambment are end-stopped. In reading, the delay of meaning creates a tension that is released when the word or phrase that completes the syntax is encountered (called the rejet); the tension arises from the "mixed message" produced both by the pause of the line-end, and the suggestion to continue provided by the incomplete meaning. Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale (c. 1611) are heavily enjambed: I am not prone to weeping, as our sex Commonly are; the want of which vain dew Perchance shall dry your pities; but I have That honourable grief lodged here which burns Worse than tears drown. Description is from Wikipedia.

sgangs · Answer

Thanks Prasun.This helps a lot

"To Kill a Mockingbird" -a literary classic, but some doubts

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