A Fish in a Tree?
The title references a famous metaphorical analysis of Einstein’s theory of the relativity of knowledge: "if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking that it’s stupid.” The metaphorical title is apt as a description of several characters—most notably Ally, of course—who maybe judged as less intelligent than they actually are simply by virtue of the framework for assessment being flawed rather than the person being assessed.
The Bike Analogy
One of the most powerful metaphors in the story is the analogy that Ally draws between riding a broken bike and having a learning disability that nobody else understands or recognizes. It is so effective that it needs no set-up:
“Imagine if every single time you got on your bike, you had to worry that the wheels would come off. And every time you ride, they do. But you still have to ride. Every day. And then you have to watch everyone watch you as the bike goes to pieces underneath you. With everyone thinking that it’s your fault and you’re the worst bike rider in the world.”
Schrödinger's Educator
Ally is just a middle school student with a perfectly normal cognitive obstruction to learning how to read like almost everyone else, but that obstruction and that grade level hardly affects her ability to craft metaphorical imagery with resonance. Her take on the randomness of teacher assignments is right on the mark in a peculiarly sixth-grade sort of way that makes it easy for everyone to understand. Well, maybe not everyone, because, you know, we just aren’t all the same:
“Teachers are like the machines that take quarters for bouncy balls. You know what you’re going to get. Yet, you don’t know, too."
Albert: On Puny Bullies
Ally’s friend Albert (don’t you just know they’re going to wind up getting married, Ally and Al) is a pretty big guy. At least by middle school standards. He is also a nice guy and you know what their fate is. When confronted—verbally—by his friend Keisha about just how it can be possible that Albert is being bullied by some shrimps much smaller than he, his reply is sublimely philosophical:
“I call them the fire ants. A group of small beings that can become overwhelming.”
The Word Wizard
When it comes to philosophizing, however, Ally rules. Mainly, perhaps, because she’s telling the story. She even has the ability to wax intellectually on a subject that has brought her tremendous agony over the years:
“I think of words. The power they have. How they can be waved around like a wand—sometimes for good…And how words can also be used for bad. To hurt.”
