Translating Metaphor: Understanding Experience

Abstract

“See that pantry door? Say I didn’t know what a door was . . . didn’t even know the word ‘door’ . . . I’d be terrified of this thing that opens, terrified of where it goes or what’s on the other side—it’s the unknown, the not understood—a space or black hole full of terror of some sort. But once you know it’s a door and can call it by its name, and you know what it is and what it’s for, what it does . . . and what’s on the other side . . . then you understand and it’s not so terrifying anymore even if you still don’t like what’s behind it. Of course, there are still ghosts from the past, and even though you face them they’ll never go away. But now I understand what a door is I can close it on them, can’t I.” Like ‘Forgotten Australians’, as a child Mick was incarcerated in an orphanage. He employs appropriate metaphorical language to grasp psychologically difficult concepts. He connects to his experience by translating it in a way that he finds acceptable so that he can readily understand in order to make sense of that experience. In this paper I will use my work and Tony Parker’s Lighthouse to discuss how docu-memoir in general, and metaphor in particular, allow the reader access to the experience of others in marginalised communities to gain insights into, and understanding of, that experience.