It's prose, it's not a technical manual. There's no "ELI5" for art, because art happens inside you. For example, "Wave" (1889) by Ivan Aivazovsky[1] is a painting I really like. It speaks to me, but how do you "ELI5" it? There's nothing to "explain" about art, unless you only dissect art into the technical details of the painting -- because you look at it, and either you like it or you don't. If you don't like it, that's not from a lack of "understanding" the painting, there's not a bridge of knowledge you need to cross, you are entitled to simply not like it and that's fine. The fact that I do, and maybe you don't, doesn't really say anything about whether it's a good piece of art or not, or whether you understand art, etc.

[1]: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/%D...

I can understand that some art cannot be (usefully) explained; I imagine paintings, especially modern art, might end up in that category.

It's very common, however, for people to explain what's going on in a literary work such as a short story, a novel, etc. Therefore, I don't find your argument (that there's no way to ELI5 this) very convincing.

(On an unrelated note, I do like the painting you linked.)

> is HN the right forum for this?

If you need to ask that question, the answer is yes. The no's are obvious.

> I'd be very grateful if someone could ELI5 the whole thing.

Don't worry, I have absolutely no clue either what this was about not who the intended audience is.

My ELI5 would be:

- Mom wanted to be a teacher.

- Mom couldn't, most likely because pandemic situation.

- Mom is now "only" a mom.

- Mom is not sure about what she wanted to be.

- Mom ponders if tasks are what defines us.

- Mom struggles with that.

Edit: format

Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for!