“The beat of the city was now the beat of an unhealthy heart, lurching unevenly from one pulse to the next.”

- Glynnis MacNicol, The New York You Once Knew Is Gone. The One You Loved Remains.

Likening New York City to an “unhealthy heart” serves to convey the extent of the pandemic and the lockdown on society. The whole city, with not only its inhabitants, but its interpersonal relationships, has been sickened by the virus and the restrictions that followed it. However, the depiction of the heart as merely “unhealthy” as opposed to dead also opens the way to hope of restoration post-COVID.

“Pericles, who two millennia ago mourned the Athenian soldiers who didn't have to die and in whose death he was complicit, but who had the nobility to say that their memorial was the whole earth.”

-Bob Rafsky, Bury Me Furiously

By equating “their memorial” to “the whole earth,” Pericles grants their memory a grandness in scope to honor their service and to compensate for his role in their deaths. By mentioning this fact as the stark contrast to George Bush’s actions, Rafsky strips Bush of any honor he may have thought he had and shames him in comparison while also supplying an ideal figure that he should be following.

“In her hands, I always became the pawn. I could only run away. And she was the queen, able to move in all directions, relentless in her pursuit, always able to find my weakest spot.”

-Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

By comparing the roles to common knowledge like chess pieces, a clear distinction in rank and power is established between these two characters. Furthermore, as chess is a game meant to be played and won, this comparison sets up the framing for a competition, albeit an unfair one, between the parties.

“... and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body."

- Walt Whitman

The comparison of "your very flesh" to a "great poem" emphasizes the impact of following the advice given by Walt Whitman in the previous portion of this quote (unwritten here due to length): the beauty and eloquence of a poem will not just be a product of a new perception on life; the reader will be able to embody those ideals to become a subject of respect and adoration themselves.

METAPHOR

//A powerful alchemist who can transform materials and concepts to anything else at will. Metaphor performs their magic by finding a relation between their input and output and implores those around them to think deeper and do likewise.

// ALCHEMIST

//In a fight, they transfigure the scenes around them to turn the tides of battle to their favor.

“Open your eyes and see the world for all its connections.”

REFLECTION

Metaphor was the first one I designed, and the most obvious choice. Focusing on the entire concept of changing the meaning of one thing to another, and including the fact that it's a commonly used and well known literary device, a powerful alchemist was a perfect fit.

This is also where my idea to not make these characters perfectly human stemmed from. Metaphor felt like such an imposing figure, that I wanted them to have a vibe akin to one of a Greek deity, which then made any humans in the lineup feel out of place (though I don't regret this turn; I really enjoyed exploring more with inhuman traits and fantasy races).