Things have changed pretty dramatically in terms of equating scars or deformities with moral shortcomings or divine displeasure, but in literature we continue to understand physical imperfection in symbolic terms. It has to do with being different, really. Sameness doesn’t present us with metaphorical possibilities, whereas difference—from the average, the typical, the expected—is always rich with possibility.
Ohhh that’s true. So far this discussion reminds me of Tyrion Lannister, a character in Game of Thrones with achondroplasia. Tyrion naturally stands out and commonly makes it clear that he’s different, ironically referring to himself as a “dwarf.” Symbolically I think it represents his father’s disappointment in him, and how he’s the “black sheep” of the Lannister children.
