Hello all, I am writing a very short story about the people in my city which is at the foot of mountains. Does it make sense for me to say something like this? The lofty mountains stand witness to the suffering of the city's inhabitants. They are unable or unwilling to help. Or maybe both. Does that come off as strange? How would you express this idea that even the mountains towering over the city do not care about its people? I'm trying to depict a city that has lots of problems and nobody cares...
First I would edit your title and change suffeting to suffering (). You should see an entry called "Thread Options" across the top since you created the thread, and I think you have the posting privileges now to edit the title of your own threads, at least for a day or so. Then, as to the actual question you asked, I would go with something like "The lofty mountains stand witness to the sufferings of the city's inhabitants, uncaring and unaffected." It doesn't work to say they're unwilling to help, because mountains don't have the capacity to care or to help. Even saying 'unable to help' implies that they could or should be able, but they of course have no such capacity. It's stretching the metaphor a little too far.
