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the hasp

jacdac

Senior Member
Lebanese
The hasp sprang up a little from the body of the lock. He reached for it with an arm that felt like lead. He pulled it free, clicked the hasp down, and put it into his left front pocket with the key still sticking out. He felt like a man in a dream.

Source: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King

Does the bolded it refers to the hasp?
If yes, I am confused: When I googled hasp, the shown picture seems to indicate that the hasp is the part that is usually screwed/nailed to the wooden door. In which case, you can not put the hasp in your pocket. You could put the padlock but not the hasp.
If no, what does it refers to? padlock? This is confusing.

Thank you
It is confusing. I think we have to understand all the it's to be the lock, ignoring the hasp:

The hasp sprang up a little from the body of the lock. He reached for it with an arm that felt like lead. He pulled it free, clicked the hasp down, and put it into his left front pocket with the key still sticking out.

But that's somewhat poorly written, because 'put it' straight after 'clicked the hasp' strongly suggests 'put the hasp'.
King seems to be using "hasp" to refer to the hinged U-shaped part of a padlock, which I would call a "shackle". At least, that's the only way the description makes sense to me.

As etb says, it must be the whole padlock that he puts into his pocket.
I think that if you know that a hasp is an integral part of a lock, then it is not confusing.
I think that if you know that a hasp is an integral part of a lock, then it is not confusing.
But it isn't. As Loob said, the loop of a padlock is the shackle. The Master Locksmiths Association should know:
Hasp and staple. A fastening in two pieces for a door or box to be secured by a padlock. The hinged part is called the hasp which is fitted to the door or lid of a box and shuts over the staple, which is on the door frame (or other leaf of a pair of doors) or the body of the box.

Shackle. The hinged, sliding or swivelling loop shaped member of a padlock.
King's use of "it" is careless.
Exactly: there are two (or indeed three) places where 'it' is grammatically more likely to be the hasp, and we have to undo that fast-track thinking and substitute slow visualization. It's discourteous to the reader to throw 'it' around casually and make them do this work.
As Loob said, the loop of a padlock is the shackle.
Yes, there is no mention of a padlock in the quote. That was the OP's suggestion which Loob quashes.
But it isn't.
It is... This "The hasp sprang up a little from the body of the lock." has established the relationship between the lock and its hasp - No hasp = no lock.

OED:
a. A contrivance for fastening a door or lid: now chiefly applied to a hinged clasp of metal which passes over a staple and is secured by a pin or padlock; also (in a trunk or box), a hinged plate of metal with a projecting piece of the nature of a staple which fits into a hole and is secured by the lock.
My emphasis.

The hasp in the picture is the vertical piece - this has the staple on the underside (note the two dots of weld/solder); the body of the lock is the lock escutcheon, etc, and the rectangular plate in which it is set.

The hasp [of the lock on the box or other item] sprang up a little from the body of the lock. He reached for it [hasp] with an arm that felt like lead. He pulled it [the hasp] free, clicked the hasp down, and put it [the box or other item] into his left front pocket with the key still sticking out [of the lock]. He felt like a man in a dream. 👁 Smile :)


The description is of a person who is checking that the lock (as a whole) works.
​
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Paul, this isn't a box, it's a shed door.

From earlier in the text:
He went out to the shed.
4
He stood by the padlocked plank door for a moment [...].
Gard went around to the far side of the shed. There, hanging on a rusty nail under the eave, was the key.
​
That was the OP's suggestion which Loob quashes.
👁 Confused :confused:


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I have not the slightest idea why you made such a meal of post #8. It's perfectly clear what a padlock, shackle, hasp and staple are. A hasp is never an integral part of a lock. Not even on a case or box. The OP asked about "the padlock". That seems remarkably like context to me. King doesn't know what a "hasp" is. Loob and I do.
The OP asked about "the padlock". That seems remarkably like context to me.
Andy... The OP guessed. King, in the passage quoted, does not mention a padlock. You will see at #10 my being royally mislead by this lack of context.
It's perfectly clear what a padlock, shackle, hasp and staple are. A hasp is never an integral part of a lock.
You may not have considered the difference between
1. a lock as a locking mechanism: "
A: My key is jammed in the lock. I need a new one." -> technically this is "the barrel of the lock"
B: I have one you can have but there is no keep.
A: "My keep is fine - your lock will be suitable.

and
2. a lock as something that, as a whole, secures two things together.
A: I am fitting a new front door - I need a lock." - if you are sold the mechanism only, and no keep, then you have been cheated. Likewise with a hasp.

The hasp is part of the second definition.
The hasp sprang up a little from the body of the lock. He reached for it with an arm that felt like lead. He pulled it free, clicked the hasp down, and put it into his left front pocket with the key still sticking out...

I need to see more context. It is not clear to me that the "it" refers to any part of the lock or some previously mentioned object.

A hasp is normally firmly attached to the door or lid being secured.

Here is a padlock and hasp on a barn door:




And here is a hasp and lock for an attache case:



In neither case can the hasp be removed in placed in a pocket. So the "it" has to refer to something previously mentioned.

Addendum: I Googled "lock with removable hasp" [images] and found no viable examples.
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The OP guessed
No. The OP didn't guess. The OP read the book. The OP forgot to mention that King was referring to a padlocked door. Perhaps the OP, quite reasonably, assumed that when he specifically asked about "the padlock" he was telling us what the question was about. That's how I read it, and how entangledbank and Loob read it. I think the only person who guessed was you.

However, none of that helps answer jacdac's question in the OP which was "what does 'it' refer to?" to which the answer is "the padlock, even though King has completely screwed up the grammar of his sentence". It's extremely difficult for even a Steven King hero to "put the hasp into his left front pocket with the key still sticking out". He'd have to put either the door or the doorframe in as well.
No. The OP didn't guess.
You only know that with 20/20 hindsight...
The OP read the book. The OP forgot to mention that King was referring to a padlocked door.
Forgetting to mention is what I call "lack of context." I think I moaned about that in #10.

I think we are now all clear about what a hasp is and that is the main thing.
I'm confused, MrP👁 Oops! :oops:
. I agree that King was probably referring to the U-shaped part of a padlock (whether removable, hinged, sliding or swivelling).

Are you saying that King was right to use the word "hasp" to describe the U-shaped thingy? Or that he was wrong to do so?
Well, I agree, Keith. See my #3👁 Big Grin :D
. But I'm asking whether Packard's reference to "removable hasp" in post 16 means that he thinks King was right.


--------

. To be fair, I don't recall any questions before this one where King has used an incorrect term, as opposed to a local Maine term. But I probably haven't read all of jacdac's threads👁 Oops! :oops:
.
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It can't be right. If you "click the hasp down" then it becomes part of the other thing (be that padlock or lock) and hasps (whatever King thinks they are) don't have keys sticking out of them.
This is the most commonly seen lock with a removable shackle. I didn't show it because I could not find an image with the shackle ("U-shaped thingy"👁 Smile :)
) removed.



And here is a diagram of a typical padlock:



I think King was thinking of a typical padlock like the Master above. He imagined that the key was inserted into the "Case" or "Body" (I found both terms used) of the padlock. He had the character turn the key and pull off the case with the key still inserted in the case. He put the case with the key in his pocket.

The above is the only scenario that makes logical sense in the scene.

He [...] clicked the hasp ["body" or "case"} down, and put it [the "body" or "case"] into his left front pocket with the key still sticking out.

I have to believe that King misused the word "hasp" and meant to use the word "body" or "case". If you make that assumption then all the other points fall into place.
I have to believe that King misused the word "hasp" and meant to use the word "body" or "case".
Trouble is, that conflicts with:
The hasp sprang up a little from the body of the lock.
Never mind - I think we're all agreed that it was the whole padlock that went into the pocket, regardless of King's terminology and grammar!👁 Big Grin :D
I agree with those who say that King is (mistakenly) using "hasp" for "shackle" of this padlock.
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