I think English teachers overanalyze stories because there’s subconscious meaning in everything or they’re just using their own experiences and applying them. Like there’s that famous joke “the curtains were blue” and the author didn’t mean anything by it but an English teacher will be like “the blue curtains represent depression”. Maybe this author didn’t mean that but there are other authors who use color symbolism. Maybe it’s a guess at the mental state of someone who would buy blue curtains. I guess I’m saying English teachers have headcanons.