crossed the lower half like a gash of fire

Question

"Her face was not beautiful. It was long, and palely lighted, while the mouth crossed the lower half like a gash of fire. The lips were as voluptuous as before. Her brows were heavy..."

In this scene a woman is being described. Yet, I cannot understand the way her mouth looks: the mouth crossed the lower half like a gash of fire. gash means wound, a deep cut. But it doesn't make sense here. A gash of fire? Also, the mouth crossed the lower half of what? Of the face? How did it cross? Can you please explain what you visualize when you read the sentence in bold?

Thank you very much in advance.

Answer 1

Look up 'gash' on Google images and you get something like this. https://i.sstatic.net/C8Ksd.png

As you can see there is a remarkable similarity to a pair of lips.

I imagine that if someone used a vivid shade of lipstick, their lips could resemble a gash.

'It' refers to 'face' and so, therefore does 'lower-half'. The verb 'crossed' relates to the following definition.

Full Definition of CROSS

transitive verb

1

a : to lie or be situated across

Merriam-Webster

EDITED

See Brian Donovan's comment below. It shows how 'gash of fire' could look like lips.

Maybe lipstick like this would produce the desired effect. https://i.sstatic.net/rgtrm.jpg

Answer 2

The description of the face is almost of a crude or primitive mask. "Gash of fire" and "the lower half" are impressionistic and convey the idea that the features are not delicately formed.

Answer 3

Can you please explain what you visualize

I visualize a white woman with pale skin wearing vividly red lipstick as her only obvious make-up. The lipstick is more of a blood red than a fire-engine red. The mouth is more of the Joan Crawford type (wide) than the Clara Bow-Betty Boop mouth (small and pert).