The Curtains Are Never “Just Blue”

I feel insane whenever someone in my AP literature class says “I don’t understand why the teacher is focusing on [insert metaphor]” like YES the lake in If We Were Villains is important, not everything has to be directly stated in order for it to have significance. The whole point of a literature class is to search for literary devices and understand the text at a level deeper than face value. Everything has meaning, ignoring things because they’re not explicitly said is just plain ignorance. It explains why so many people lack critical thinking skills and are impossible to have a productive conversation with. I wish there was someone who I knew (besides my teacher) that I could dissect a book with.