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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—Nothing is Happening:
Edwin Black's first chapter as narrator in Part I begins with him on the toilet. He has severe constipation, which serves as a metaphor for his entire life. As a well-educated man with a degree in Comparative Literature, he intended to write and learn about Native American culture and stories. But by the time of the novel, he has retreated to his mother's house and no longer does any academic work on his subject. Here Edwin describes himself trying to overcome his difficulties:
I'm on the toilet. But nothing is happening. I’m here. You have to try. You have to intend, and not only tell yourself but really sit there believing. It’s been six days since my last movement. One of the bullet-point symptoms on WebMD was this: the sense that everything didn’t come out. This feels true about my life in ways I can’t articulate yet. Or like the name of a short-story collection I’ll write one day, when it all finally does come out.
Edwin understands, vaguely, that his constipation is a metaphor for his life. Specifically, the constipation resembles how his work has become constrained and painful. The one direct comparison in this passage connects the title of his short-story collection to his bowel movements, both stopped up somewhere inside him. Edwin understands what he has to do, from WebMD: "You have to try." But, importantly, he doesn't seem to have any urgency about either his constipation or his writing, waiting for "when it all finally does come out." The scatological metaphor adds levity to the scene, which otherwise would be the rather depressing story of a derailed life.
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