Game Changer

In the third section of Game Changer, Ash’s character development reflects the book’s message about Passive Privilege Versus Active Allyship while narrative tension increases. After becoming more aware of his privilege, having experienced sympathy and then empathy for marginalized communities, Ash now realizes the necessity for direct action. He takes deliberate steps to fix his mistakes and return to the original universe, which parallels his emotional journey as he recognizes his social responsibility toward others.

Ash’s Identity and Perspective become more and more fragmented, both in a literal sense as he shifts into different versions of himself and in a symbolic sense as he grapples with existential questions. One of those crises of conscience comes about after he accidentally erases three people from all universes. This event builds into the theme of Gray Morality, which underlies all of Ash’s actions, both as a sub-loc and in his personal relationships. When Ash reflects on whether deleting people was justified, he wonders:

Granted, it was in self-defense, but still…if I had a knife would I have stabbed them each through the heart? If I had a gun would I have shot all three of them dead? What actions are justified in self-defense? Is erasing them from all versions of existence fair punishment for being sleazy rat bastards? (239).

Throughout the novel, passages that explore moral questions tend to reflect the same structure. The narrator asks a series of hypothetical, open-ended questions without providing a definite answer, thus encouraging the reader to exercise critical thinking. This pattern reflects Ash’s emotional state, as he is wrestling with complicated feelings and concepts. Later, when he fails to shift during one of his games, Ash acknowledges his responsibility from a more mature and humble perspective: “it infuriated me. How selfish—how irresponsible it was—to put my needs ahead of the world’s. Just because I was temporarily the center of the universe didn’t mean I had the right to act like I was” (260). This reflection shows that Ash does have a strong moral compass and thus suggests that asking critical questions strengthens one’s moral position rather than weakening it. Significantly, Ash seems to be gaining a better understanding of the distinction between individual and collective responsibility and his role in the world.

The issue of privilege and morality is further explored with Leo’s arrest. The stark contrast between Ash’s and Leo’s circumstances is evidenced by Leo pointing out to his friend: “Your tackle changes the world. Mine just screws up my life” (298). Ash acknowledges the privilege that his wealth and race provide him and recognizes the injustice of Leo’s situation. When the latter describes his boss’s racist actions, for instance, Ash responds in a way that makes that clear:

‘I would’ve hit him for that, but his nose was already broken.’

‘I woulda hit him anyway,’ I told him. Easy for me to say, because I might have gotten away with it in a way that Leo couldn’t (299).

During that conversation, Leo also indirectly remarks on Ash’s white-savior complex. Ash responds in a way that corresponds to the speculative situation unfolding and, on another level, to his own role—intentional or otherwise—in the status quo of his original reality. That is, Ash takes ownership of his role in Leo’s situation, however inadvertent: “The truth hurt, but I couldn’t hide from it. I made this world. All its flaws and injustices. All its brutal, unthinkable realities. Great white hero, my ass” (300).

This passage reflects Ash’s character development. He is not only more aware of the consequences of his actions but also now understands that passively enjoying his own privilege perpetuates inherited systems of oppression. Consequently, he takes on the responsibility to challenge those systems. In the context of the speculative dilemma, Ash thus promises to fix the world by shifting back to the original universe. In a more symbolic sense, the passage reveals that he is now willing to actively fight injustice.

Moreover, narrative tension builds as events become more uncontrollable and unpredictable. Ash comments, “Until this moment, I always had the sense that [the Edwards] knew what they were doing, even if I didn’t. But now they were flying as blind as me” (237-38). Ash’s sense of disorientation and anxiety highlights the instability of the universe at this point in the narrative. This tension, punctuated by natural disasters and riots erupting all over the world in the final section of the book, foreshadows the universe falling apart as the “correction” approaches.