Sisyphus
The mythological figure of Sisyphus (condemned to roll a boulder up a hill that perpetually rolls back down) invoked as an image of futile, exhausting effort. In Taylor's writing the Sisyphean figure appears when the speaker frames her labour in a failing relationship as endlessly repeated work that produces no progress, with the burden growing as the effort continues.
Doomed labour - effort that is structurally incapable of succeeding, where the labourer's persistence becomes the punishment itself rather than the path to release.
Appears in 1 song
“My spine split from carrying us up the hill”
The Sisyphean labor of carrying the relationship uphill, an impossible, futile task that destroys the one performing it. The speaker's body breaks under the weight of maintaining the relationship alone.