Violence is usually a metaphor

Literary Tools
These ideas are inspired by How To Read Literature Like A Professor.
I am going to try and cover a different tool each day.

VI Concerning Violence

1. Violence is usually a metaphor

2. It comes in two types: Character to Character or Sickness and Accidents

3. ALWAYS ASK: What does this type of misfortune represent thematically?; What famous death does it remind me of?; Why did the author choose this form of violence?

I often think violent movies and stories get “short changed” and dismissed because it is hard to look through the violence and understand the deeper message. In the movie Crash for example, I want to throw-up, cry, throw something at the screen or just scream when the officer molests the TV producer's wife. But that violence was chosen by the author for a reason. It has nothing to do with the sexual nature of the molestation. It stands for control, dominance, dehumanizing, demoralizing, and “putting this race” in their place. It tells us that the officer actually feels helpless or powerless, so he must do something so horrific that “proves” his dominance and authority. It also lets us see that the TV producer feels helpless, oppressed, and dominated. It is strange that her molestation has nothing to do with her at all, it is a power struggle being played out between the two men. The two men also represent the extremes of society so it also represents the universal struggle of one group of people who are afraid of loosing control and another group of people who don't know how to safely find their own voice.