The Steel Magnolia Metaphor

The Steel Magnolia Metaphor is a silly little story that accidentally has really deep feelings and metaphors in it.

I absolutely hated my high school literature textbooks. On the rare occasion I enjoyed a story they wanted me to read, they ruined it by making analyze the symbolism and metaphors within the story. And I was always wrong, even though I thought art was subjective and there was no wrong interpretation of it.

And even if I agreed with the supposedly correct interpretation, I always wondered if that was really what the author meant. Did they even intend for it to be a metaphor, or did other people read too much into it and decide it was a metaphor?

I think that's part of why I want to explain my stories here on my blog. By all means, take the story and decide it means whatever you need it to mean. It's still my story, but it belongs to everyone who reads it, too, it becomes whatever it needs to be for the individual reader. But if you want to know what it means to me, here it is in my words.

The Steel Magnolia Metaphor was supposed to be a fun little story about an autistic girl who got mad when she learned Steel Magnolias isn't about robot trees, and decided to build a robot tree. It is based on me getting mad when I learned Steel Magnolias isn't about robot trees.

(It should be about robot trees. Like Transformers, but trees. My character learned this disappointing fact as a child; I was… 27?)

For some reason, and I can't really remember why, I decided my main character's mother should have cancer. Maybe subconsciously, I remembered hearing a little bit about the plot to the movie. Anyway, at some point I actually read the plot summary to Steel Magnolias and realized the mother character needed to be a little bit more like Shelby, as heartbreaking as that is for her daughter.

I won't spoil what happens with the tree, but my main character, who hates metaphors as much as I do, realizes she accidentally built a metaphor.

And as I wrote that line, I realized I accidentally wrote a metaphor.

Now, to be fair? I'm still not 100% sure what it all means. But I know it means something, probably something different to everyone who reads it.

And so me, autistic and about as subtle as a neon sign that says "Not at all subtle," decided I needed to tell you right away, in the title, that this story is a metaphor.

Take from this story the meaning you need, but if I'm ever famous and this story is ever in a high school literature textbook, I can tell you right now, there is no wrong answer.

Content warnings

Cancer

Facing the death of a parent

Non-graphic death of insects

Family that doesn't understand being autistic sometimes means no hugs

Non-gory blood

The Steel Magnolia Metaphor is available now for your listening pleasure or on Escape Pod.