Boxing
In a novel about boxing that is mostly peopled by boxers it should come as no surprise that metaphorical imagery is engaged as commentary upon the sport. “Boxing is the opposite of being alone on a dust-filled prairie.” This is an unusual comparison to be made on the surface but it is arrived at to counterpoint a memory of one of those boxers. Locked in a school shed by bullies, she dealt with her fear and anxiety by imagining a vast expanse of flat prairie land empty except for herself. The metaphor is thus saying that boxing is a community in which no one can exist in isolation from others even if the only communication is between them is the competitive desire to knock the other person unconscious.
Coach
The collection of coaches available to train women boxers does not include the elite. Two of the boxers at the center of the narrative share a coach who “looks like the relative everyone wished declined the obligatory invitation to Thanksgiving dinner.” That is an open reference that could cover a large variety of unpleasant qualities. In this case, he is being compared to that relative who complains about everything about the holiday including the fact that he has to be at the table in the first place.
Beaches
It is not every town in America with a gym that affords possibilities for women to train as boxers. The ones in this story have all congregated in a place that for some of them seems almost like another world. A visit to the beaches of San Francisco puts this culture shock into perspective. “The beaches of Douglas, Michigan were nothing like this. The beaches of Douglas, Michigan, looked like bathwater.” The character making this observation goes on to say she was raised on that bathwater and after seeing the rough seas of the California coast she cannot even believe she used to call what lapped lazily to the Michigan shore a wave.
Pain
The author doesn’t shy away from the reality that gender differences exist. These are female boxers and not just boxers as a separate self-contained gender-neutral entity free from the politics of sex. This difference even applies to the metaphorical imagery used to describe pain. An encounter in the ring which doesn’t go her way leaves Andi noting that “her head feels as if it is filled with undercooked pie.” The real significance of this comparison is not in the how a head might feel all mushy after a brutal assault. The real significance is that it is very difficult to imagine this image come to the mind of a male boxer.
Girls and Men
Sports is the cultural arena in which men feel assured of always dominating to the point they can convince even grown women to refer to their female counterparts as girls. It is the nature of the beast because, as the narrator observes, “Men are dead ends, but girls are infinite backwards and forwards.” What is meant by this unusual metaphorical imagery is that the history of female athletes and female sports has never evolved in a linear fashion. Advances are made incrementally and with the built-in expectation that steps backward will have to be taken before another significant move forward becomes possible.
