Game Changer

Chapters 7 through 15 cement the novel’s narrative stakes and themes and simultaneously provide further characterization. Secondary characters Leo, Katie, Layton, Paul, and Hunter are especially developed and remain relatively the same throughout all realities.

Ash starts to confront how Identity and Perspective shape lived experience with each new shift. In Chapter 7, he finds himself in a universe where the United States has remained segregated after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. Significantly, several references to real events and historical figures appear throughout the novel. The narrator, for instance, mentions “the time it takes for a man with a crushed windpipe to stop breathing” (1), in an implicit reference to George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Later, Ash states at the beginning of a game: “We stood for the national anthem in a world where no players have ever dared to take a knee” (175), alluding to quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling as a symbolic gesture against police brutality toward Black people. The novel also contains more direct references to history, such as the following passage: “In 2016, nearly fifty people were killed by a gunman armed with semiautomatic weapons at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando. In 1998, Matthew Shepard was tortured, beaten, then tied to a fence and left to die, just because he was gay” (256). The inclusion of real-life events reinforces the novel’s message about social justice by emphasizing the very real effects of systemic oppression. In drawing parallels between fiction and real life, the author encourages the reader to think beyond the narrative and exercise similar critical thinking in real life.

Fiction and history are further connected through Ash’s identity. Indeed, the young protagonist was named after fictional character Ashley Wilkes, from Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel Gone with the Wind. This fact leads to the following exchange, albeit in a dream sequence, between Ash and Leo:

‘Does it ever bother you,’ [Leo] asked, ‘that you were named after a guy who was named after a guy who was in a movie that glorified the Confederacy?’

The answer was yes, but instead of saying that, I told him what I always told myself. ‘Ashley Wilkes said he was going to free his slaves if the war didn’t happen first.’ I know this because my grandma made me sit through all four uncomfortable hours of the movie once.

‘But he didn’t, did he? Instead he went off and fought for the South. All talk, no action.’

‘I’m not him!’ I told Leo.

Then Leo leaned close and whispered, ‘Prove it’ (293).

This conversation underlines the distinction between Passive Privilege Versus Active Allyship. Leo points out the sociohistorical legacy that Ash carries, interwoven in Ash’s very name—metaphorically and literally a critical part of Ash’s identity—and pushes his friend to challenge his inherited privilege. This call for action comes as Ash is learning to recognize systemic racism via a reality that makes its implications even more explicit than in his original reality—albeit not by a wide enough margin to leave Ash comfortable. By gaining empathy for Leo’s situation, Ash realizes how harmful and hurtful his past dismissals of the latter’s experiences have been. Ash then literally gains a different kind of appreciation for marginalized identities when his own identity shifts, rather than the world around him. The nature of that change—from external to internal—parallels Ash’s character growth as he becomes more and more empathetic toward the effects of marginalization. He captures his growth via his comparisons of his original perception with his new one:

Intellectually, I thought I knew what being gay meant. Same-sex attraction. Simple, right? It’s part of who you are, like your handedness, or the color of your eyes. But I wasn’t seeing the whole picture—the whole person—because for so many, it’s not a part of who you are, it’s right there at the core, defining who you are. How much more horrifying, then, when someone rejects you at your very core? (192-93).

By extension, within this new reality, people around Ash begin to demonstrate their own Gray Morality when it comes to their reactions. Ash’s parents in particular reject him at first, prioritizing their own feelings and reputations over their son’s. After, they do come around to give some support, but that support is lackluster, leaving Ash uncertain how to feel and generally disappointed.

Finally, in addition to character development, this section of the book provides background information about the universal shifts. The Edwards are introduced to guide Ash in his new role as a sub-loc. Anticipation and tension build, since Ash now has a specific goal to accomplish in a particular time frame. This deadline cements the narrative stakes, clarifies the logic that underpins the narrative, and eventually leads up to the resolution.