Identity and the Self

The participation of the eight primary characters in the Daughters of America Cup championship fuels the novel’s explorations of identity and the self.

Throughout the novel, the third-person narrator inhabits the consciousness of Artemis, Andi, Kate, Rachel, Iggy, Izzy, Rose, and Tanya as they fight. This formal move reveals the ways in which boxing contributes to how the characters see themselves as individuals and in the context of others. For some of the girls, their “boxing self is folded into herself so deep, so buried in the folds of her, that it’s unclear to anyone whether she’ll ever let go of her boxing self and join the regular wheel of reality where nobody knows who’s famous” (97).

Girls like Artemis, Izzy, Rachel, and Rose are so attached to the sport because it grants them the power, authority, and control they...