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Metaphor
Explanation and Analysis—Empty:
In his first chapter in Part I, the narrator describes one of Dene Oxendene's memories, looking back on the first time he saw someone tag. Dene scrutinizes their choice of tag and understands its metaphorical implications:
Dene waited for his moment, watched the kid tag in the condensation on the bus window three letters: emt. He understood right away that it meant “empty.” And he liked the idea that the kid was writing it in the condensation on the window, in the empty space between drops, and also because it wouldn’t last, just like tagging and graffiti don’t.
The name emt, as Dene sees, means "empty," but the word itself is emptied of letters. Dene appreciates that the kid wrote it in the empty space between drops. The name also works as a metaphor for graffiti itself, particularly this small piece of graffiti in the condensation on the window. The emptiness of the form makes the work ephemeral, which is reflected metaphorically in the name emt.
Dene recalls this moment from his young life while on the way to an interview to get funding for his project to tell Native stories. The ephemeral nature of the graffiti reflects Dene's fear that Native stories will not be remembered. Thus the metaphor not only speaks to Dene's past as a graffiti artist, but also to his present projects and his fears and concerns.
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