EP07: Let's Talk About Teeth - TRANSCRIPT

 Hi! You're listening to Hyba is Writing, and I'm your host, Hyba. In the last couple of episodes, I did a reading of my short scary story, Brittle Teeth. In this episode, I want to briefly discuss it a little more from an analytical point of view. In particular, I'm going to stick to three main subjects: Martin's character and his behaviour, what the ending and all that stuff about transformation means, and the symbolism of teeth. Before we get into this, I just want to note that I haven't done any external research for this episode - this is really just picking apart my own work and trying to analyze it.

I think Martin's character is complex. He's narcissistic, and definitely holds himself to very high standards and loves himself very much. He's also evidently really hard on himself and very disciplined - we see this right from the start where he discusses his diet and all the things he does to stay the way that he is. When his teeth start falling out, he begins to hate himself - partly as a result of just how hard he is on himself, and partly because he realizes that he doesn't fit into that image that he had sort of designed for himself anymore. But he's still quite narcissistic - he still holds himself above all others, because that's a fundamental part of his character. So you end up with these parts of him that are very much at war. On the one hand, he loves himself and feels entitled to some higher glory and recognition, but on the other hand, he hates what he has become because of his teeth falling out. This struggle leads to the next topic I want to discuss, which is what Martin decides to do.

The first time Martin de-toothed someone, it was quite clearly because of this sense of dangerous entitlement and the desire to become what he once was. When he realizes later on that this is impossible, he decides on another approach: leveling the playing field. If he can't have teeth, and he still feels entitled to being that perfect person, then he needs to make it so that everyone is on his level again. And because he's so in love with himself despite his teeth, he feels that by doing this he is actually doing his victims a favour. He is transforming them, and at the same time, he is forcing a reconciliation between those two warring sides of him that I described earlier. So, while it seems absurd that Martin would make this kind of a decision - and it really is; I remember saying that I would have personally just chosen dentures or something! - while it does seem absurd, the facets of his character explain why he might go to such horribly desperate lengths and to what end.

Finally, I want to talk about teeth. The whole story revolves around teeth. What do teeth symbolize in the story? I think one of the most reoccurring comments on my short story had to do with the fact that having your teeth fall out is a very common nightmare, which I personally have never experienced, but I've experienced other teeth-related dreams, so I think it's safe to say that teeth take up a lot of space in our brains. Let's think about that for a moment. We use our teeth to eat - and we do that at least a few times a day. We use our teeth to help us talk - and we do that a lot throughout the day, too. We have to brush our teeth after every meal, because we need to protect them -- otherwise, we end up having painful cavities and other issues. It's safe to say that teeth are on our minds either consciously or subconsciously for a pretty large chunk of our daily existence.

Now, to shift gears a bit: There's this scene in a movie called The Fall starring Lee Pace and several other extremely talented actors. If memory serves, one of the characters in the movie explains that another character's strength is housed in his teeth. I'm not sure how the sequence of scenes actually goes, but that line kind of stuck with me. This idea of strength residing in one's teeth - I didn't really agree or disagree with it at the time, but it stuck with me. I mention it here before if you also consider the symbolism of biting and chewing and how important teeth are in nature, it gives you another look into what teeth as symbols could mean. Put simply: a predator without its teeth is suddenly weaker.

For example, a lion with no teeth wouldn't be as powerful as they are with their teeth intact. In a way, that can extend to humans on a subconscious level. Perhaps there's this innate understanding that without teeth, we are losing a part of ourselves that we cannot get back - a part of ourselves that truly makes up a big chunk of who we are. Similar to losing a limb, losing all of your teeth would have a huge toll on a human's self-esteem and confidence and psychological state.

I think that's compounded by the fact that we are social and media-reliant beings, in the sense that we see teeth everywhere. On TV, all the actors have perfect teeth. In the West especially (and here I mean the US specifically), having straight white teeth is a huge deal, in a way that I've never seen in other countries. It's a bit preoccupation. People get their teeth whitened, get them straightened, see their dentists frequently. So when we combine the natural way in which teeth take up space in our minds with this human-made emphasis on teeth in media and our social lives, it compounds the effect that perhaps losing one's teeth might have on a person.

I wonder if these were things that readers could also glean from my short story, or if perhaps it gave you other ideas altogether -- and if so, please don't hesitate to share them with me! You can leave me your thoughts, comments, suggestions, and questions via my Tumblr and my Twitter, and you can join my mailing list - all of these are linked in the description of this episode.

Thank you so much for tuning in today! I really enjoy talking about literary analysis so this was a particularly fun episode for me to prepare.

Until next time!