Symbols
Liquid Knowledge
Liquid Knowledge is a fictional physical object, it was first thought as just a plain prop in the story, with the only value of being used by Taeyeon. But as the story proceeded, its value began to decrease into this figure of “the thirst for knowledge.” This is the motivation for people to commit good or evil for the sake of their human nature, curiosity, such as the feeling of killing and gaining power that one does not deserve. But always, after satisfying dangerous desires, there are always heavy consequences.
God
God is mentioned multiple times throughout the story, in which I recall a moment in where I attempted to pray to him, but he did not answer. As I “grew up,” he became a figure that I instead pitied instead of depended on because he was being used by those who didn’t actually believe in him, but believed in what he could possibly give them.
Sex
Sex in this story is not meant to be a romantic bonding; it is supposed to be spoken as a fatal lust. Lust for another human you are not supposed to have, a lust for a non-physical thing. Sex, in this story, as brought humans apart and has created trouble for humans instead of pleasure.
Sleep
Sleep takes up a large part of our life, and it also takes up a portion of the story. Nighttime is the time in which we usually rest, it could be the time where all our worries can be thrown away, or the time where our worries begin. The kind of sleep that appears here is always alluded to the autobiography of Night, by Elie Wiesel, where the time he arrived at the Holocaust concentration camps and his greatest nightmares came true was nighttime. But those night terrors were not harmless dreams, they were living realities.
Nature
Nature is portrayed, most of the time, a positive thing. Although it may create some setbacks in the human race, nature can never be evil. The sky, the grass, the mountains, the trees, the flowers…etc., even though we are killed by poisons in nature and natural reactions, it would be ridiculous to arrest them for murder. By placing nature around something that has been a crime, such as the scene in which I have just killed my dog and is burying him in the fields of flowers and butterflies, it creates a great contrast in what could have been. Instead of burying my dog, I could have been playing with my dog, as long as I didn’t have that twisted influence of killing, I could be been placed in the same category of flowers and butterflies. This was a technique also used by William Golding in his novel The Lord of the Flies, where he placed some savage boys who had just killed a mother pig for fun inside the field of flowers, in which they complete ignore the beauty.
Syringes and Needles
Syringes and needles is apprehensive fear, you know you have been stung by a needles’ point, unless you’ve been out cold. When you arrive to the doctor’s office to get a shot, the most dreaded part is most likely right before the needle reaching your skin, you know it’s going to hurt, but you can’t do anything about it.
Shoelaces
Shoelaces are a symbol of childhood, where one usually first learns how to tie his or her shoelaces. Although it is such a miniscule and natural thing to us now, it was considered great knowledge then. By cutting the shoelaces, Taeyeon has ripped away Tiffany innocence from having her mind wiped out from drinking the Liquid Knowledge. Through this, Tiffany is forced to understand that the place she has been taken to is not a happy place and she must find her own conscience and voice or else she will lose herself.
