Opening Lines
The opening lines of the book set the stage for its use of metaphorical language. Simple and direct and to the point, yet obscure and ambiguous at the same time:
“My life is over.
Behind the morphine dreams is the nightmare of reality.”
The Prosthetic Leg
Much of the figurative language is directed toward the amputated legs and the aftermath of the accident which caused it which is the stimulus behind that opening assertion of her life being over. For instance, this imagery at the fitting of a prosthesis socket:
“I feel like a freak-show Cinderella, getting a strange glass slipper put on, but that image vanishes when I realize that the socket feels … good.”
Dissociation
School is different in the post-amputation world of Jessica. Her own feelings of inadequacy collide with the natural behavior of kids caught up in themselves to produce a dissociative sensation anything but uncommon:
“It feels like I’m in a movie where everyone has a role and a place and a purpose, and I’m one of those silent extras they pay to sit and look like they’re part of the show.”
Misplaced Metaphor
The narrator turns to a commonly used metaphor that is not entirely appropriate. But then again, she is a young girl and has perhaps heard the phrase used elsewhere in a similar manner. She is using the phrase to describe her own feelings of being something that some people seem to be avoiding. In reality, the precise meaning refers to an obvious problem that is purposely being ignored because nobody is really sure how to address it:
“Everywhere I go, I feel like the elephant in the room.”
Metaphorical Melange
Something about Ms. Rucker, one of her teachers, drives Jessica to into a figurative turn that combines direct metaphor and similes one on top of the other:
“Ms. Rucker is the one teacher we’re both nervous about. She is a machine. Never smiling, never flexing, never sharing anything personal Her life is all about numbers, and her demeanor is as severe as her haircut, which is a dark, straight, asymmetrical bob. I’m sure there’s a real person inside her somewhere, but after having her for algebra I and II, I’ve quit trying to find her.”
