Subconscious Metaphor
When I wrote Fingerprints, I had certain things in mind. Certain characters had vivid personalities from the beginning, and I knew the general story I wanted to tell. Some symbolism was consciously incorporated.
Then a colleague pointed out a a metaphor that I was not thinking about when I wrote it. Not consciously, anyway. Thinking about it, though, it had to be subconscious on some level, because it was so obvious.
Teks and Tuits. The hearing and the Deaf. Two worlds that some believe to be mutually exclusive.
It had to be subconscious, because I see the pull between those worlds every day. Hard-of-hearing kids, especially … so often stuck in a tug-of-war. Like listening to music and using spoken English? Too hearing. Can’t understand what people are saying at a noisy party? Too deaf.
Can’t they be both?
So maybe the story can be a metaphor for a lot of things, groups and labels that the all-knowing “THEY” decide can’t coincide.
And as I think Raina would say, “Screw that. Watch me blur the line.”
